


The Shadow and The Seer

by rednight73



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 71,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28140225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rednight73/pseuds/rednight73
Summary: "Wow, you really are a little monster, aren't you?" His deep voice tilted the words into a thick Southern accent.A familiar feeling tugged over me while I turned towards him and looked up. Far up because he was so tall. Golden eyes met mine. My stomach dropped for only a second and then it suddenly felt like everything in the world would be okay.My eyes fell on his lips after his eyes almost immediately. He will kiss me a lot. The thought came without warning, but it spoke the truth the same way all of my feelings did.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Heavy plot twisting, Jalice heavy plot, shameless Bella/Leah ship
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Bella Swan/Angela Weber, Charlotte/Peter (Twilight), Leah Clearwater/Bella Swan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: Jasper, Twilight FanFiction, Twilight Fanfiction





	1. The Major

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody!
> 
> So this story intends to take Jasper's badass story in twilight and focus on Jasper and Alice meeting! Hopefully you'll like it :)
> 
> NOTE: I'm uploading this completed story from my wattpad profile with the same handle. Feel free to check it out

**Texas, June 1938**

Moonlight filtered onto the sparse, green grasses. Ruddishly red earth, brittle from a constant lack of moisture, cracked under bare white feet. At the same time, it also gave way to a simple pair of black boots. Peggy always noticed those boots. They had, after all, been the last thing she'd seen before she'd been reborn in this new life.

_Her head was laid carefully on the concrete and the beautiful man took a step back. A hand smoothed her hair off her face as she gurgled on her own blood. All she could see were those boots._

_"Shush, darling. It'll be alright..." His accent, so similar to her own Texan twang yet somehow fundamentally different, cascaded over her. It sounded like the way her grandpa used to talk..._

_Peggy's crystalline eyes widened when she realized how much she was thinking about accents while she was dying. Fire burned her throat while she gripped onto it desperately._

_Fear, no matter how much she tried to feel it, never came._

"Where are we going?" This time, Peggy did not fight the wave of calm. It was just the Major's method of fortifying the troops. If the boss bothered to make her feel anything other than hunger and pain, she'd take it.

Peggy hated being a vampire. Every sharp, twisting emotion that came with the desire to rip a throat out repulsed the little humanity she had managed to cling to.

She remembered what life had felt like before the change. Her little siblings, her parents... this existence was not anything close to that.

But the Major seemed cognizant of Peggy's feelings. He never ordered her into one of the sparring matches when she felt scared or made fun of her when she fought her hunger. He just somehow used that odd ability to give Peggy a shred of her humanity back.

He still hadn't answered her. Peggy stiffened. He always answered her questions.

The Major looked at her then with an expression that she knew too well. "Maria asked me to train everyone individually tonight. Rumors have been spreading of a new army building west of here."

Peggy felt dismay at the thought of another battle. She instinctively drew her arms around herself. "Do you think we will win?" They hadn't lost since she'd join them, but the last battle had been hard. Mae and Tommy had died.

Those vampires had been so strong and Peggy couldn't figure out why. She had never felt weak against another vampire before that night.

The Major smiled. "No, we will be fine. Now get ready, girl." He tensed in a familiar battle stance and Peggy followed suit. This was the only constant in her life.

Peggy charged at him, trying a trick he'd shown her in the first few weeks when she had been new. She had adapted it to her smaller size. The Major, after all, was a tall, lean man that all the others whispered was handsome.

The newborn gasped in surprise when he pinned her. His rough hands gripped either side of her head. And pulled. "I'm sorry."

Not even the Major could stop the potent fear that tingled down Peggy's entire body in those last moments. Her nails dug poison into his skin in a primal response.

The man stared down at what had been his secret favorite of this batch of newborns. He had never before seen a newborn vampire retain her humanity quite like she had. They hadn't broken her as badly as all of the others.

He carefully gathered the remains in his arms. Gently. Because she'd been gentle. He would never forget that.

The silent vampire carried her to the bonfire several hills away. She'd been the last one. He slowed once the flickering flames came into view. Into a human-paced walk.

He laid Peggy to rest. And then he felt a familiar breeze at his side as a dainty, porcelain vampire stepped close.

Her beautiful, round face and almond-shaped eyes used to be so beautiful to him.

"You've trained this batch even more efficiently than the last one." Maria murmured in surprise. Her scarlet eyes glistened from the flames that they'd created to dispose of the bodies. She leaned onto the tall, scarred man. She sensually slid her hand down the man's chest.

The tiny vamp didn't seem to realize that the man remained unmoved by the gesture. His honey blonde curls hid any reaction he might've had. The fire cast shadows over midnight eyes that seemed to want to burn along with it.

"Would a good hunt interest you?" Maria was in no particular need to feed, but she wanted to feel out her second-in-command's state of mind. She had more than hunting planned for the both of them.

"No. I would rather not kill or turn any more innocents at this moment." There was no heat to his words.

Maria watched him wearily, unable to read him. He, of course, alleviated the moment with a small laugh. The male vampire carefully stepped out of her embrace and craned his neck downward. "We almost have all of Texas in our grasp. Go and get some fresh blood and we will finish this."

He turned his back away from her. Maria's eyes narrowed once he loosened his hold on her.

Nonetheless, she left her pet soldier for the town that would serve as her next hunting ground.

Jasper ran back to the abandoned barn they'd used as their base for the last few weeks. He wandered through it slowly, memorizing its layout with little thought as to why he was doing it. The earth of the barn was beaten in from all of the fighting it had seen.

His hand clenched at the ghostly quality of the scene. He'd thought at some point that he would grow accustomed to it. Vampirism was war, death, and hell.

Designed to torment him even as he blandly pondered how he would eliminate Maria. He had outgrown the stage of being a great tool to her. His creator now knew that he was a threat, therefore she was searching for a way to kill him.

Footsteps, vampiric in nature, came into focus. "Jasper, I know that you're here!" A familiar male voice called.

Peter fearlessly walked into the barn. Fear didn't enter his eyes as he looked at Jasper. "Old friend." He grinned.

The old friend tilted his head in confusion at the unfamiliar realness of the facial expression. "How'd you know where we were?" Why did he return? It'd been decades since he'd last seen him.

Peter shrugged. "Just knew."

Jasper kept staring at him while he felt a faint spiral of fear floating around outside. He couldn't help but feel a little indignant. "You brought her with you?"

"So?"

"She's terrified of me!" He had, after all, tried to kill her.

"I knew it'd be okay!"

Jasper rubbed his forehead in an attempt to get rid of a headache that should not have been possible. "What do you want?"

Peter's good-natured demeanor transformed in an instant. He looked at his friend with ancient, grim eyes.

"She lied to us. War isn't everywhere." His words vibrated against the heavy walls around them, slowly changing the insidious lies that they'd both been whispered as soon as they had awoken to an existence of blood. "It's primarily the South and there's talk of the Volturi decimating this area soon. Me and Char have seen it, Major, this is not the only way."

The stunned vamp simply stared at Peter. With three years served with Maria, his old friend was littered with scars. Like everyone else in this world, life had been ripped from them so that they could be used as pawns and eventually thrown away. The pain, hunger, and anguish that had reverberated from the newborns... It was unbearable. "How?"

The other vampire didn't bother to ask him what he meant. "We will show you."

When Peter and Charlotte left the desert that night, Jasper followed and didn't look back.

**Forks, 1988**

Rebecca Stanley's mouth dropped open. She glanced desperately around, trying to see if anybody in the diner was seeing what she was. Renee Dwyer was back. In front of Charlie Swan's police cruiser with a baby stroller. She had the perfect view of the scene from a window.

She remembered when Renee had shown up out of the blue one day. Charlie had always been a quiet man, and nobody had been prepared when he'd privately married a non-local, beautiful stranger. It had been abundantly clear to Rebecca Stanley, however, that their marriage couldn't possibly work. Renee was outgoing, outspoken, and impulsive; everything Forks' newest police officer was not. Admittedly, they had stayed together longer than anybody had thought they would.

She quickly tried to remember whether anybody had told her if the divorce was final. It had only been six months ago. What was their daughter's name...? Isabella. Around the same age as her own daughter. Charlie's car door opened, and Rebecca took a sip of her coffee nonchalantly. She attempted to not lean forward over the table as to not draw any attention to herself. And then she spit all of the caffeinated beverage all over said table. "No way." She breathed.

Because Renee was heavily pregnant. She rubbed her eyes. Rebecca once again scanned the diner and was again disappointed to see everybody just eating their meals. How could they not care?

 _Was the baby Charlie's? Or...?_ Mrs. Stanley still sat there even after Charlie and Renee had left. It was rare that something this exciting happened in Forks, and she wasn't entirely certain whether she was capable of handling the duty of making sure everyone knew. Rebecca stood up and numbly paid for her coffee. She had to get on a phone. As soon as possible.

**Arizonia, 2005**

"Mary Alice! Give me my hairdryer back!" Renee called out in exasperation.

"But I didn't take it this time." I lied while lazily looking over a fashion magazine. "Bella did."

Renee raised a dark brow and snorted. "Like hell she did. Cough it up." She held out an impatient hand. Very slowly, I lifted a nearby couch pillow and revealed the purple hairdryer. I reluctantly transferred the item over. Renee laughed and kissed me on the head. "Don't try that trick with Charlie, he might actually believe you."

Worry spread through me again at the thought of the move. "Do you think I'll ever get to gossip with those two as my only housemates?" I asked, almost hysterically as I threw my arms around Renee. "Mom, why do we have to do this?"

"Because Bella needs a new start. And you go where your sister goes."

It was a rule and loyalty that had been made at an early age by the both of us. If I was put in time-out, Bella was sitting on the ground next to me until I was freed. If Bella was about to fall, I would hold her hand to steady her. Despite all of my jokes, I knew that this move was necessary.

My world narrowed for a second before that feeling of utter certainty came over me. It was oddly neutral, unlike anything I had ever felt with that sense of mine before. "Mom, something big is going to happen to us there. I don't know what, but it'll be _big_."

Renee sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It's all in your head." She said flatly. Her cat-green eyes, identical to mine, flashed in irritation.

"Just like Bella-"

"Enough! You're normal. Both of you are _normal_!"

If I hadn't heard the panic in her mother's voice, I would've argued against that declaration. But even with the escalating volume of our fight, Bella didn't seem to hear us while she sat on the nearby staircase. She was rocking back forth. Her breathing ricocheted throughout her chest in random bursts. She was hyperventilating.

Renee and I stopped fighting at the sound. My eyes were transfixed on her pale, pretty face.

Tears poured out of her eyes for a few seconds before she calmed down for precisely two seconds. Panic was always a mere second away for her.

"Bella." I walked over and hugged her. "It'll work out this time, I promise."

She stared at me. "Another one of your feelings?" Hope bloomed on her face.

I sighed. "No." I plopped down beside Bella in defeat. "Go ahead and cry on my shoulder."

"Thanks." Bella wrapped her arms around me and resumed sobbing.

I twitched and couldn't help glaring at Mom. "Yeah, we are totally normal." I muttered sarcastically.


	2. New Girls

**New York City 1958**

"Jesus, Jasper. You need to eat something." Peter exclaimed as he watched the starving vampire trudge into the abandoned house that was serving as their temporary base of operations. Little Charlotte snorted derisively in the corner.

"Shut up." Jasper slurred at the both of them. His pitch black eyes emphasized the dark circles beneath.

Twenty years of wandering had passed since the day that Jasper had left Texas. His conscience had cleared for about the first five years as the constant killing of war had disappeared. But only momentarily.

Killing for food, while a low toll compared to the number of newborn murders that he had committed, still bothered the empath. So he eventually found a solution to his pain.

He would just quit eating until Peter ripped his head off.

A strong hand clasped his shoulder. "It really bothers you, doesn't it?" Peter asked with a sad frown on his face.

Carefully, Jasper nodded. He'd been trying his best to antagonize his friend into ending him. Perhaps sympathy would work?

"Why are you still here?!" Charlotte broke out in a frustrated yell. Her scarlet eyes burned holes into the starving vampire.

 _Hmm._ Jasper considered the question, but also the little vampire's ability to kill him. Maybe if Peter was distracted and he did his best to stay still? Who knew jealousy would help him out so much?

Amusement temporarily won over as he decided to test this theory out. He laid his hand on top of Peter's hand that was already on his shoulder. "What the hell?" His friend skirted away from him as Charlotte charged at him with a rage-filled cry.

"How DARE you?" She shrieked as Peter held his lover back with one arm.

"The crazy ass is just trying to get a rise out of you." His friend comforted. Peter then shook his head at the obviously disappointed look on Jasper's face.

An exasperated Jasper left the house then. Perhaps it was time to go rogue. At least then he could leave the city that taunted him with so many smells.

It didn't take long for him to slip from his self-imposed fast.

In fact, it took all of his willpower to sprint to a bad side of the city before the bloodlust won. Charlotte and Peter preferred to stick to the criminally-inclined food. Rapists and murderers were the optimal food and were more than enough to assuage any guilt on his friends' part.

Hunger overtook Jasper just as he snatched a man who stood over another human's body. The murderer's death hit his psyche in a great avalanche. Personally, he didn't understand why it made a difference if the human was good or not. He had no right to judge them.

Sanity returned to Jasper in great gulps before he realized that another vampire stood in front of him. The boy appeared slightly younger than him with tall, bronze hair. The boy's ruby eyes looked into his own without fear. Instinct overtook him at the sight of the strange vampire near his hunting ground. His legs tensed.

"Don't." The vampire spoke quickly as if realizing just the amount of danger he was in. Jasper couldn't feel any indication of caution, however. "I'm gifted like you are." He held his hands in the air in surrender.

Jasper quickly noticed that the boy's hands were slender and long. Pianist's hands. "Why should I care?" He growled. Now that his instincts were overridden, he wouldn't hurt him. But that didn't mean he trusted him.

"I know the solution to this." He waved at the bodies at their feet. "I know it bothers you."

"You don't kill humans?" Jasper asked doubtfully.

"My name is Edward Cullen." Edward's guilt skyrocketed. "I kill humans, but you've changed my mind. Will you let me take you to my coven?"

 _Why the hell are you acting like killing humans is a choice?_ Jasper wondered to himself.

"Because it is." Edward answered.

—

**Forks 2005**

Bella and I shuffled off of the plane with the rest of the crowd. Our suitcases' wheels clanking behind us. Bella's fair skin was littered with sweat while I was nearly dancing with every step.

Bella looked enviously at me. "How does that not bother you?"

An impish grin broke through my face. "It's cool to be up so high." I pressed my hand to her cheek and whistled when I realized how sweaty she was. "This might be a new record for you!"

Bella's eyes nearly rolled up to her skull, but she didn't comment. "Do you know where Charlie is going to be?"

Wordlessly, I followed my gut and led her to a secluded bench in the large commons area of the airport. Our father, Police Chief Charlie Swan, was sitting inconspicuously on it. The flight had somehow gotten off early so he probably wasn't expecting us.

I tapped him lightly on the shoulder and eyes identical to Bella's looked at us. "Hi Dad!" I flung myself into his arms and Charlie hugged me back hard. Bella stood to the side of the affair, a goodnatured smile poking through her face. She was really fond of Charlie because they shared a lot of things. Like clumsiness, fear of planes, and crippling shyness.

Charlie then clasped Bella on the shoulder warmly and drew her to his side. It went without speaking this type of greeting suited the two of them better. "Hey kids."

He grabbed both of our suitcases and us girls followed without argument. He always insisted on the gesture. "Are you ready for school tomorrow?"

We exchanged tired looks. "We want it to work out." I hedged cautiously. Bella looked down at her feet while biting her lip.

"This school is smaller and has some good people in it. I hope that helps." Charlie offered up hesitantly; he was never a man to make false promises. "It _is_ only two more years."

The rest of the ride went in companionable silence as the police cruiser transitioned from the up-kept city roads to the tougher roads of the country. Tall trees, a juxtaposition of the Arizona desert, met us. And then we were in Forks.

It never failed to amaze me how the town never changed. The broken-down antique store, ornate courthouse, and crunched up little mum-and-pop stores were set in stone.

Bella shuddered beside me. "I hate old things." She whispered. It wouldn't help her nightmares was what she really meant. I threw my arm around her.

"We will just stay away from this part of town." I found myself promising. Bella, after all, had a real reason for the fear in her eyes.

We reached Charlie's house with the sun slightly faded. It wouldn't be long before Fork's most prominent feature, rain, would make its appearance. And it was here that I found myself sulking while Bella was letting out an uncharacteristic hoot of enthusiasm.

"Oh Dad, you didn't!" She almost squealed as she ran to a great hulking dinosaur of a truck with a bow tie thrown on its hood. She threw her arms around it as old family friend Billy Black chuckled alongside his teenage son Jacob.

The tall teenager was giving Bella an appraising look as he tossed the keys over. "I'm glad someone's excited about it." He threw a laughing grin at me. I briefly considered throwing him the finger.

Bella was popping the hood open with an efficiency that would've surprised most people. "My god, you did this?" She asked Jacob. He nodded and gave her another look that once again she didn't notice.

I did and intervened by twisting my tiny 4'10" frame between the two of them. Once again, Bella did not pay any mind as she gushed with what sounded like a whole lot of nonsense to everyone but Jacob.

Our mother's last boyfriend, a mechanic, had taught an eager Bella all he could about cars in a short time. She'd kept the skill up by maintaining Renee's death trap of a Bug. She acted like she didn't, but I knew she had motorcycle magazines stashed at the bottom of her suitcase.

"Isn't this great, Ally?" Bella grinned up at me with motor oil on her face long after the Blacks had left.

"Whatever you say, Marie." The parallel response of her middle name left my lips automatically. I let out a small laugh from my position on the top of the car at her enthusiasm. I was painting my fingernails a vivid pink to pass the time.

I was waiting for the lunatic to stop so we could go to bed. School was so not being brought up.

Half an hour later, with the streetlamp flickering beside us, Bella finally resurfaced. "Charlie got me the best gift. This baby will be all ready." The prance in her step diminished exponentially as I walked alongside her to the door. "Oh God, why do I have to go?"

"You're giving yourself a harder time just thinking about it. Just let me pick your outfit out."

"What if we have to leave again because of me?"

I sighed in exasperation. "If you think we have had to leave any of those schools because of you, then you're an idiot. It's not your fault people hate you." I began to walk ahead of that dark truth, desperately thinking of the various outfits I had planned for both Bella and me this week.

Bella stopped me with a shaking hand and turned me around jerkily. "It hurts. No matter how much time passes. The only one even remotely like me is you, but surely there's more than just us out there." A glossy look came over those expressive chocolate eyes.

A chill, unlike any I had ever felt before, raced down my spine. My heart seemed to beat out of my body. "I think..." I said slowly, "we will. But I don't think we will like it."

We stared at each other and then around at the house. It was spooky that all we could see were trees, our house, and the street. I walked briskly to the door, pulling Bella by the arm. I corrected any slips she made absentmindedly.

I slammed the door shut and locked it.

—-

"If I hear any more about the Swans, I'm going to puke." Rosalie complained sorely while the Cullens all sat around their lunch table. Their prop trays full of food sat in front of them.

"Imagine hearing every extra thought with the words." Edward groaned. He was gripping the bridge of his nose as though the vampiric impossibility of having a headache was occurring.

Emmett laughed. "Don't let the humans bother you. They'll all be back to their usual shit in no time."

Jasper personally had to agree with him. It was kind of fun for him personally. The excitement bubbling from the students was mostly pleasant.

"What I wouldn't give for your abilities." Edward remarked solemnly.

"Can you stop eavesdropping?" Jasper asked. A pointless question. It was then that the Swan girls arrived in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria seemed to quiet to a slow murmur in comparison to its normal low roar. It was only then that Jasper bothered to actually listen to what the humans were saying.

"So the smaller one is Mary?" An interested Mike Newton whispered to Eric. "I kinda like the goth one. They both are so-"

"Pretty." Angela Weber whispered to herself.

"Why does everybody think they're so hot?" Lauren asked a fuming Jessica Stanley. "Mary looks like a twelve year boy!"

"And Bella looks like a complete creep if you ask me." Jessica sulked. "As for that other one, my mom totally has proof that Chief Swan isn't Mary's dad."

"Really, huh..."

"That goth one wouldn't even say her name when Mr. Banner asked her in class. Just sat and glared as if she was totally better than everybody else."

Ben spoke up. "Maybe she's just shy."

Jasper stopped listening and finally turned his head from his family. He knew where exactly to look in order to sneak a glance.

Two small girls, dark haired and pale, were standing with their trays looking for a table. Aside from those characteristics, they didn't look related. The taller one, Bella, was curvier and had long, straight chocolate hair that reached her waist. Matching chocolate eyes stared at the ground and Jasper could almost taste her fear on his tongue.

Unbridled energy twined with such an easing-going, soft irritation distracted him from Bella. It was an emotional signature that was so powerful, it nearly knocked him on his ass. He suddenly wanted to get closer.

"Such an odd mind Mary possesses." Edward murmured. "Maybe she's delusional."

Jasper hardly heard him. Mary Alice Swan made an obviously petite Bella seem tall. She reached her sister's shoulder and was so slender that the tray she was holding almost overshadowed her. Black spiky hair framed a delicately freckled face. Her emerald eyes were bright and aware, and she expertly balanced that comparatively humongous tray with one hand.

She was gracefully guiding her sister with a light grip on a long sleeved, Mötley Crue t-shirt. "Over here, Bella." She said in a chirpy, happy voice.

They finally sat down at an empty table. Jasper realized he had been staring and looked away back to his family. Emmett snickered at him while Rosalie glared. "Not you too!"

"Isabella hardly thinks. Either that or it's just too loud in here." Edward murmured, his brow puckered in concentration. "What is wrong with those girls?"

They had intrigued the entire school, jaded vampires included. Jasper was in complete agreement with his brother for once.


	3. Volleyball and Bloodlust

I leaned back in my chair while Bella looked at me tiredly. "See, not nearly as bad as the last school." Probably because a lot of them seemed to be hating on me too this time, but she didn't need to know that.

She nodded. "These guys are only slowly starting to hate me. Maybe if I skip classes every once in awhile, we can make it through the two years."

I frowned at her. "Maybe all that skipping doesn't really help." I took a bite out of an apple and kept talking. "After all, maybe it alienates you faster."

"I...could try it." Bella agreed slowly.

I mentally gave myself a fist bump over the small concession. There was no way Charlie would be as lenient as Renee about that kind of stuff. "What's your next class?" I asked through my apple.

She wrinkled her nose at me. "That's pretty gross. And it's gym..."

I tried not to laugh at her horrified tone. "Try not to face-plant while I'm not there, please. Maybe it'll be badminton." There was a tinkling in my gut that indicated that the small mercy was probably not going to happen.

"Fuck." Bella swore softly under breath. "People are staring." I followed her small nod to see eyes watching us.

Several pair of butterscotch golden eyes made my body go still. If there'd ever been a time that my innate weirdness went into hyperdrive, it was this moment. Instead of a feeling towards a particular outcome, I was overwhelmed by a infinite vacuum devoid of sensation.

_I could no longer see, feel, or hear anything around me. Like the world had suddenly decided to turn its lights out along with its gravity. Life then rushed back to me like an avalanche synonymous to a punch in the gut._

_In fact, it **was** a punch in the gut. I realized this as I saw a man's pale, white hand impact my stomach. Ruby blood eyes and blood-stained fangs assaulted my eyes. My body flew backward from the impact and back into a wall of nothingness._

_I floated for some time as though the strange state of being was giving me a chance to recover from my wounds. A gentle pat on a face I had forgotten I had made me blink._

"Mary?" I shook my head in disbelief as Bella's concerned face tilted to the side. "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

I gave her a specific look and then purposely stretched in a tired motion. A huge yawn came out. It was an ancient joke between us that if trouble ever arose, we could just signal to each other by acting like each other.

I am always way too hyper to ever even consider yawning. Bella's eyes widened, but she didn't press.

Those eyes terrified me to the core... While I tended to follow my instincts, I was sorely tempted to look back at the strangers who had sent me into that trance.

"It's a day full of weirdness." Bella sighed. She rubbed her hands absentmindedly over her eyes.

"Why?"

A slight smile went over her face. "I haven't seen anything all day."

So my weirdness was full throttle into hyperdrive while hers wasn't? I supposed it was only fair since Bella was almost always the unlucky one.

—-

Bella found herself wandering into the biology room, a weird feeling tingling in her gut. She was already almost late due to gym class. There were almost no seats left in the entire room. A quick scan through the room confirmed this. Except one chair.

And it was beside a monster with black eyes.

He was objectively beautiful if she thought about that kind of stuff. However, the blood-lust permeating the room nearly knocked any viable thought processes out of her. An invisible claw closed around her heart. Yet she still approached him as though her feet were no longer her own.

Then she finally sat down beside him. It was difficult to think, let alone breathe when she could feel how much the monster wanted to kill her.

 _Murderers don't even feel this amount of bloodlust._ She thought wanly to herself. It suddenly made so much more sense why she hadn't seen any spirits inside of this school; the ghosts had to be terrified of this creature. He wasn't dead, she would've been able to sense that, but neither was he alive. The flame of vibrancy that nearly blinded her in other people wasn't present.

The lack of such an aura against her senses was almost relief. If the bastard could stop wanting to kill her.

The bell rang and he left the room at almost a run. Bella sagged against the table in pure relief. _Mary isn't going to believe this..._

I was right when I had thought Bella was going to have a hard time in gym class. A volleyball soared almost over my head, but I jumped and spiked it back over the net. It sucked Bella and I had gotten assigned different periods for this class.

It hit the ground in a satisfying boom and the guy that dove for it stared at me in surprise. "Wow." He said dumbly.

I smiled sweetly at him while the rest of my team cheered. It was then my turn to serve. A girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes also glared at me through the net. Target selected. I jumped and slammed my hand on the ball.

It hit the girl on the stomach _hard_. "Ow!" She howled.

Guilt momentarily filled my body until I remembered some of the smack that she had been talking in Spanish class. Some nasty piece of gossip about Bella probably being a heroin addict. My hearing had always been good.

I was also an amazing actress. My hands went to mouth as everyone surrounded the girl. "Oh my goodness! Are you alright?"

The girl worked her affected leg slowly. "Yeah I guess so." She slowly got to her feet and the game continued. From the people checking on her, I'd learned her name was Jessica.

Class ended and I began the walk back to the locker room when a guy walking towards me spoke. "Wow, you really are a little monster, aren't you?" His deep voice tilted the words into a thick Southern accent.

A familiar feeling tugged over me while I turned towards him and looked up. Far up because he was so tall. Golden eyes met mine. My stomach dropped for only a second and then it suddenly felt like everything in the world would be okay.

My eyes fell on his lips after his eyes almost immediately. _He will kiss me a lot._ The thought came without warning, but it spoke the truth the same way all of my feelings did.

A silly grin crept up my face as one of my life's biggest questions was answered. I'd always wondered if I'd be able to tell who I would spend the rest of my life with, and sure enough I could. Any fear over his unusual eyes that I had possessed quickly dissipated.

 _My soulmate would never hurt me._ I quickly leaned against the wall while still smiling as I surveyed my new hubby.

I started at his feet. He wore plain, black tennis shoes that I quickly decided I would spruce up later. They had some mud on them, which meant he spent some amount of time outside. Plain blue jeans. A black T-shirt that stretched over a lean, muscular frame. His arms were wired with muscle and his shoulders were broad. Drool nearly dripped off my chin once I got to his face. Honey blonde hair waved to just below his chin and framed a chiseled, masculine face. He was so hot.

"You are _so_ hot. I'm so glad it's you." I squealed as I threw my arms around his rock hard body. I nuzzled my face into his chest. He froze in my arms.

I frowned as he stiffened and gently removed himself with firm hands. The strength pouring from his body amazed me. His eyes were wide and he looked at me as though _I_ was the dangerous one. "You're insane." He whispered. "Please don't ever do that again, Mary." He looked tortured as he walked away.

 _Huh._ I guess I would just have to convince him that we were meant to be together. Determination filled me as I continued on my way back to the locker-room to get changed. I could not wait to tell Bella about this.

—-

Edward Cullen furiously paced the living room with Esme and Carlisle watching him. Concerned, they were always so damn concerned. Only this time, they had every right to be.

"She really smelled that good?" Esme asked despairingly. She wringed her hands together nervously while Carlisle put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

His throat burned and contracted in warning at the mention of his pain. He drew an unnecessary breath in order to try and forget the blissful drug that was Bella Swan. "I never have been as tempted by a human's blood as I am by hers. So _good_..." His legs bunched up in an instinctive measure to sprint back to Forks High School so that he could rip the girl's throat out with his fangs.

Within an instant, an unyielding hand was on his throat. Calm went through his mind like a balm. "Edward, you would never forgive yourself if you gave in." Jasper warned, his own black eyes boring into his.

Edward found himself nearly snarling at his brother despite the empathetic shove. He instinctively heard his brother's thoughts about the other Swan girl as well as his hunger. It infuriated him that it still was nothing compared to his own.

"You talked to _her_?" He asked while laughing nastily. "Never knew you liked to acquaint yourself with _your food_." Those words were, Edward knew, just the ones that would throw Jasper off guard. So he could escape and kill Bella.

Just as Jasper's hand loosened in shock and Edward prepared to shove him and bolt, Edward was grabbed by a smaller, crueler hand by the throat. "What the fuck did you just say to him?" Rosalie growled. Her nails penetrated his throat while she punched him in the face. Her beautiful face was radiant with fury. Edward refused to fight back against his own sister. This went on for three long seconds until Carlisle ordered Emmett to separate the two of them.

"What is going on?" Emmett asked incredulously. He kept a struggling Rose tucked closer to his body while he dangled Edward precariously by the nape.

Jasper was staring at the scene with a calculating look on his face. "You want her blood that much, Edward?" He asked quietly. He was stunned. To him, Edward was the epitome of control. For him to purposely hurt him in order to get to Mary's sister... "She's your singer." He realized out-loud.

Edward hung his head in shame for several minutes. Rose stopped struggling and Emmett put the two of them down to their feet. "I'll go back to Alaska. There's no reason for all of us to move because of one human."

Shame filled Jasper's body. He took in every ounce of it he could from his brother.

"Oh, Edward." Esme rushed over and hugged her son.

"Are you sure about this?" Carlisle asked Edward in a neutral tone. The emotional bond between the two of them, one that had always stunned Jasper, flared to life.

Edward nodded. "I need some time. There's a chance I'll be back, but..." _I need to be sure._ His family all understood the unfinished sentence.

Without speaking, Emmett and Jasper followed Edward closely around the house as he packed a small bag for Alaska. They didn't want his control to lapse again while still so close to Bella Swan. Edward performed the necessary tasks jerkily.

"Hey, Tanya will probably be pretty happy to see you." Emmett attempted to joke. Jasper tried not to smile.

A huge sigh ripped through Edward at the thought. "Yes, she will."

They left the house in a sad procession while Edward quietly said goodbye to the girls and Carlisle. Jasper and Emmett ran with him for half of a day until they reached the Washington border to Canada.

Edward looked at Jasper sadly. "I'm sorry for what I said, Jasper. Your control _has_ gotten better."

He felt his sincerity and nodded. "No big deal, I know what it's like." He monitored his thoughts carefully, not wanting Edward to know too much about Mary or the sight hurt that lingered.

"Be careful, little bro." Emmett thumped Edward on the shoulder. Then the moody young man was off. "Man," The larger vampire shook his head incredulously, "never saw _that_ coming."

Jasper only then thought of Mary's small, fragile body embracing his. "Neither did I." He agreed.


	4. Persistence is Key

"You think we should leave?" I asked in confusion as Bella paced in front of me in her room. Her Mötley Crue shirt swallowed her frame, and I attempted to not be distracted by it. Bella's sleek jeggings and black boots had been my decision, but she had fought for the oversized t-shirt this morning.

She had not been overly eager over the tailored, white Mötley Crue crop top that I had designed.

"I mean that the family with the gold eyes isn't... right." Bella said hesitantly, distracting me from my shallow musings.

Thoughts of my handsome and shy soulmate hurtled into my head. "What makes you say that?"

"That copper-haired one wanted to kill me. And his presence isn't like a human's, Mary." Fear made Bella's voice quiver. Light filtered in naturally through the window, and once again the tall wall of forest trees outside of our yard sent a warning that tingled down my spine.

 _Fuck._ I looked into my sister's chocolate-molten eyes and knew that she wasn't exaggerating. Her abilities had always been stronger than mine. They were also a terrible curse. "Okay, are you sure that leaving is absolutely necessary? Renee probably won't let us." I stated practically.

"Well, we are old enough to probably make it on the street." Bella hedged. Her ability to make drastic decisions became blatantly obvious with that half-assed plan and the I couldn't resist rolling my eyes at her.

"Bella, we have to finish high school. I'm not sure if you've noticed but you-" I jabbed my finger at her, "are way too brilliant not to go to college. I know how much you love science and math and all the dumb shit I hate."

She looked shocked and a little touched at my words for a second, but then her lips set in a stubborn line that I knew too well. "Do you propose that I just let some ginger freak of nature kill me?" She shrieked almost hysterically.

That was a valid point. "Let's call Mom." I finally said. "We can try out some kind of online school, as much as we didn't want to."

Bella started speaking, but then I was gone again into that state of nothingness. I floated for a mere millisecond this time before I found myself staring.

_Her dark, chocolate hair was matted with blood and she was facedown. I scrambled on my hands and knees, desperate to get to her. Plush carpet assaulted my hands, creating a terrible softness against the terrible grief in my chest._

_"Well you weren't hard to find at all." A pale man with bright ruby eyes grinned down at us. Blood smeared his mouth. "She was delicious, but you smell even better."_

_He moved quickly and snapped my arm under his boot. A scream ripped through me. He then picked me up and brought my neck to his mouth. Pain like none other seared my body._

I gasped back to reality, snapping back almost instantly to Bella's room. Sweat broke through on my skin and it felt as though I had ran a marathon. Bella watched me warily, already knowing that I had a full-blown vision this morning.

Visions rarely came to me. In fact, the last time I had a vision was four years prior. It'd literally been when Mom was picking my Christmas present out and I had accidentally seen myself opening it. Times had been so much simpler then. With a headache overwhelming me, I laid back onto the bed. "Bella, I don't think we should leave. We are stuck now."

Bella just looked at me with a dark brow raised.

"We will get killed by a monster that looks mightily similar to what you're describing. Our throats torn out." I sighed, my hands shook in front of me at the pure carnage and horror that kept cascading in front of us.

"This morning, you saw yourself getting punched in the gut by one of those things, right?" My sister added a little jump to her step as she kept walking the room, as though expending as much energy as possible would eradicate all of our problems.

"Yeah, much less drastic to getting turned into a human slushee." Why all this violence now? I fell quiet for awhile until finally the guilt of keeping something from Bella overwhelmed me. "I kind of left something out too." I admitted.

Bella stopped pacing. She then laughed. "What else could you possibly have left to tell me? Our deaths _have_ to be the biggest thing."

"Uh... Imetmysoulmateandhe'soneofthosemonsters." I chirped nervously in a gulp of air.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Bella threw up her hands and stormed out of the room.

—

 _Thank god the mind reader is gone._ Jasper thought to himself as he tried desperately not to stare at Bella Swan. It was AP Calculus II and he was unsure how a junior in high school had accomplished being in here with the rest of them.

Her fear came off of her in droves. So much so that it made Jasper's hand tighten incrementally around his pen until it snapped. It was only when she looked back at him at the small sound that he realized that _he_ was the source of her fear.

Mary Alice's overjoyed face rushed to his mind. _If sisters could be opposites._ He instinctually used his ability to calm Bella down. That fear was a healthy one, but it hardly helped him keep control of his bloodlust.

The Swan sisters, while not overwhelming so, smelled _good_.

The desire to speak to the girls made him wonder at his control or sense of mind. He hadn't been interested in humankind for over a hundred years. The bell rang.

As he stood up, Bella walked by him and surprised him once again. She glared at him with more hate than he had seen in a long time. He cursed himself as he used his much longer legs to keep up with the human. "What was that glare for?"

The small girl sped up. "Who says it has to be for a reason?" She asked.

This confused him. "Well it takes a lot of energy, for one."

"What are you, the glare police?" Bella came to a jolting stop. Her sneaker somehow went against the motion and she nearly bumped into three people passing her.

He gently caught her from the collisions. She growled and stomped on his foot. "Ouch!"

She held her foot while hopping on the other. "Are you alright?" Jasper asked helplessly.

"Could you stop being nice to me? It makes it hard to hate you!" She looked at him with watering eyes from her injured foot.

"Why would I want you to hate me?"

"Ugh!" The girl stormed off successfully this time.

Jasper let out the breath he'd been holding in order not to smell her. And he turned around at the even nicer smell. "Hi Jazz!" The little monster grinned up at him.

He took a slow step back. "You are sneaky." It was pretty difficult to sneak up on a vampire.

"You just weren't paying attention." Mary propped her forearms on the top of her head. "I could tell. Are you trying to get my sister to change her mind about you?" Her sparkling emerald eyes stole his attention.

"What's her mind made up on?"

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter, you'll change it. When are you taking me on a date?"

He nearly choked and looked hesitantly around for Emmett and Rosalie. They could _not_ see him like this. Her excitement unsteadied him. Only the thirst in his throat could answer his question for him at that moment. "I'm not taking you on a date."

Mary laughed. "If you think so." She patted him on the arm as if comforting him. The pats turned into strokes. "Wow..."

Jasper now looked around to see if anybody was watching. Mike Newton stood as witness to the completely inappropriate petting of his biceps. His mouth was hanging open in shock which made him look like a dumb fish. That look was enough of a mood-killer that Jasper decided it was time to end the scene. "Excuse me, miss." He shouldered past her.

Mary giggled. "Nobody says that!"

He walked fast enough to make sure she couldn't follow. He felt her amusement follow him all the way down the hall.

—-

Jasper frowned at Emmett. "You really want to make a bet over this?" They both stood on either side of a stream. The huge vampire grinned while Rosalie laughed lightly beside him.

"Tanya is so getting into Edward's panties this time! She was very close last time." Emmett held a copious amount of cash out at his brother. "It's going to happen!"

"You siding with him on this?" He asked Rosalie.

Her perfect nose wrinkled as she snorted out a laugh. "I don't think Tanya rings all of Edward's chivalrous fantasies. Maybe if _she_ put on a chastity belt and told _him_ no for a change."

Jasper nodded in agreement and looked at Emmett. "You're on." He took the cash and quickly counted it. Then whistled. "A fiftieth honeymoon is on the line with this one." The money was as good as his. A virgin of Edward's caliber and temperament would never accept an experienced woman like Tanya.

"Don't let Esme hear you boys." Rose advised. "She's very worried about him."

They both nodded while Jasper felt slightly guilty. "His willpower is pretty impressive."

Emmett shrugged. "He was bitten a little younger than all of us. And in a stuffier time than either me or Rose so some of it makes sense. You on the other hand," he eyed oddly, "are from an even older time than Edward."

"It was wartime," Jasper pointed out easily, "which is a fairly easy time to have sex. People were scared and dying young." He surprised himself when an image of Mary's hand petting him came to mind.

"That charisma shit you have going must've worked wonders. The babes must've crawled all over you."

"Probably not as much as you at the same age, Emmett." Rosalie said as she tilted an annoyed expression his way.

"Damn it, babe, you know I was just kidding..." Jasper drowned out Emmett's voice as he focused on not thinking about the tiny woman who made him feel as though he was always ten steps behind. He would kill her if he didn't distance himself.

She was so breakable, yet it was difficult for him to think of her like that. Everything about her screamed out a strength and largeness of life that he rarely saw in people. It made him want to support and nurture that strength of spirit. But he knew that he would only crush that spirit if he so much as laid a pinky finger on her.

—

**One week later...**

Shrieks woke me up. It was third time in the last four nights so this time I had the procedure down. I crawled out of my bed and padded across the hall past Charlie's snores.

A full moon peered through the visible kitchen window downstairs. It filtered my path from one of darkness to a soft white glow. My slippers squeaked.

I opened the bed to Bella's room while I placed my hands softly against my ears. Her screams were designed to penetrate the thickest of walls in order to wake me up. It was probably a form of subconscious revenge for all of the heels that she has worn on my orders.

Normally, Bella moved very little during her nightmares, but tonight appeared to be an exception. She thrashed and appeared to fight her blankets. It was obvious she lost that fight once only her feet were visible.

"Sissy." I firmly shook her shoulder to wake her up. "It's time to get up."

The movements stopped abruptly. Small decorated toes were the only visible part of her body for two seconds. And then she threw the blanket to the floor as if it were venom. She then grabbed the nearby trash can so that she could vomit.

I wanted patiently for her to finish. She wiped her mouth and groaned.

She finally spoke five minutes later. "Mary, ghosts are running from something. They've been increasing in number at night, running through my damn body like a damn welcome mat."

"Did they tell you what they're running from?" I asked.

"A majority of them cannot talk. But the most vocal one just told me that the man that killed him is after us." Bella's eyes suddenly seemed too dark for her young 17 years.


	5. Small Talk and Stalkers

She trudged to class as whispers hit her on all sides. It sent a faint wave of hurt through her chest. It didn't, however, overwhelm her. She was only tripped once, and she caught herself with her hands in a familiar gesture. It was pointless to look backwards to see whose foot had sent her to the floor.

Bella arrived into the Biology classroom only to turn back around at the sight that met her. She was _not_ staying in a room with Edward Cullen. His now-honey eyes drilled into hers and sent shivers up her spine.

 _Why the hell was he back in this classroom?_ Bella had hoped that the boy had switched classes when he hadn't shown up for the past week.

A broad chest stopped her escape midway. She hit her elbow painfully on the doorway and hands caught her waist. "Wow there." Mike Newton smirked down at her.

She fought a groan and was just pulling his hands away to get out of the room when she saw the teacher heading straight towards her. "Great." She muttered. Mary saw their death as the doing of some other monster, but Bella wasn't placing all of her bets on _that_ horse. A car accident or an angry horde of high school students were also viable possibilities. After all, her sister had only an eighty-five percent accuracy, not that Mary realized that Bella had an excel sheet on her ability.

Between Mike's hands on her and the teacher's strict glare, the odds of escaping the room alive were getting exponentially slim.

Death couldn't be all that bad. After all, some of her coolest friends were dead people. Typically poltergeists with an agenda, but better than the tortured souls who disturbed her last night.

 _He likes to make you think you can get away._ One middle-aged housewife had whispered in her ear before floating through the left side of her chest in an icy trail. Through her heart. _He smells you..._ She had taunted Bella happily. She had been one of those odd ghosts who wanted others to have the same death.

So no, while Bella was scared of Edward Cullen, his desire to kill her was not the most terrifying aspect of her existence. She sat beside him with a sigh.

"Hi." The boy smiled at her with his lips. Not showing his teeth.

She found that she couldn't be as rude to the more bloodthirsty Edward Cullen as she was to Jasper... the one who Mary swore was her soulmate. Bella clenched her teeth at the thought. _Eighty-five percent accuracy._ She reminded herself rigidly.

She stuck to her plan of being nice to the monster that wanted to kill her. "Hello." She kept her tone plain yet pleasant.

"I must apologize for how rude I was the other day."

"No worries?" Bella tried to say rather than ask. It was difficult to hide her doubt. _He speaks like a prissy old man..._

Class began before he could respond. She fought her smile at the blessing. The teacher walked up to the board, marker in hand. She leaned forward in anticipation. But then bad luck struck once again. The teacher proudly dug a box of microscopes out from under his desk and announced that it was lab day.

She desperately looked around, but everyone was taken. Most of the girls and a couple of the guys glared at her. Her damn natural charisma would be the death of her.

The ginger creature once again showed off his dimples. "Looks like we are partners." He murmured. He cast his face down in a cool way that would've made most girls swoon against their will.

She held in her gag. "Looks that way." She agreed.

Rain began slamming against the metal roof above them which caused Bella to sigh loudly. She then zipped up her one hoodie that Mary permitted and drew it closer to her body. A microscope, abused and bulky, was placed in front of them. Along with multiple samples of animal cells to observe.

"You don't like the rain yet you moved to Forks?" Edward asked in a curious tone.

The actual number of times Bella was spoken to by someone other than a family member was pathetically low. It caught her off guard enough to respond honestly. "It's... complicated."

"I think I can handle it."

She bet he could since her uncanny ability to sense the life in people didn't flare up around him or Jasper. It also seemed to scare away the ghosts from the school. With Mary's visions as further confirmation, Bella was not about to underestimate the Cullen family. Her instincts were screaming to leave Edward in particular alone.

"My mom got remarried." She lied quickly. The tale of why she and Mary were really at Forks was too personal and painful for any stranger to know. Also, she didn't believe that his desire to murder her made him a worthy recipient of her life story.

Edward's unbelievably smooth and pale forehead wrinkled. "So I can assume that you don't like the new husband? That doesn't seem too uncommon."

Bella laughed softly after a moment of inspiration. "No, Phil is a great guy." Phil was the name of their mother's pet German Shepherd.

"Then why did you leave?" Edward asked as he began the lab procedure. Disturbingly perfect hands performed the task a little _too_ smoothly while his eyes were trained on her.

 _Shit! What is this, Twenty Questions?_ Bella bit her lip hesitantly out of habit. "It just didn't seem fair for me and Mary to be around while those two were freshly married." Edward frowned which caused the lying Bella to add on, "Phil travels a lot and my mom would feel bad for leaving us to be with him. So we took the choice out of her hands."

"How utterly selfless." He remarked. His eyes flashed black momentarily as though a demon had possessed him. Bloodlust pressed against her psyche uncomfortably.

"Yep." Bella popped the 'p'. Awkward silence enveloped over them. The last few minutes of class passed in a slow drag while the lab was finished out.

The bell rang and Edward got up slowly. "This was pleasant, Bella. I will see you tomorrow." He sauntered gracefully towards the door.

Bella walked slowly to her last class of the day. It was her favorite as well, despite the fact that Jasper was going to be there. That particular monster seemed different to her than Edward. He didn't seem as frozen.

The bastard really hadn't done anything to justify her dislike other than his obvious inhumanity and Mary's precognition. When she saw him in class with a relaxed lean body against his chair and a bored expression plastered onto his face, she had to admit that everything about this guy was more natural than Edward Cullen. He glanced up at her as she sat next to him. "Hey Bella." The greeting was dredged with boredom and an odd martyrdom. As if he expected her to be cruel again and was preemptively throwing a hissy-fit.

The humanity of it surprised her. "Most people like you, don't they?" The question slipped out of her unintentionally.

A cocky grin slipped out of the guy momentarily. He seemed too old for high school all of a sudden. "Guilty. Do you not like me because of Mary?"

Damn, he was direct. "How do you know about Mary?"

"She made it pretty obvious that she likes me." He admitted, a slight frown marring his face. A serious expression crossed his face as he met her eyes. "You have to make her see that I'm not the right guy for her."

Wow. The request was so out there that she instantly knew he wasn't lying. "Why aren't you right for her?" She asked. Mary was set on him so there wasn't much anyone in this world could do. Bella knew the force of nature that her sister could be.

"I have hurt people. I'm more dangerous than anything you have ever seen, Bella. Keep your sister away from me." Jasper's Southern accent became more pronounced with the declaration as his passionate intensity seemed to blaze in her face. Bella could've almost sworn that he'd felt alive for about five seconds.

She also managed to pick up on something essential about Jasper Hale in that moment. "You care about people."

"It sure isn't a gift." He muttered. "My life would be a lot easier without that small detail."

A smile quirked her lips. "What I wouldn't do to care about people other than my sister. I have never gotten to make a friend outside of my family before."

"I've noticed that hostility most people seem to have towards you. You have any ideas why?" He asked curiously. There was no pity in his gaze, as though being unlikable was akin to being a brunette or having acne.

This wasn't something even Mary had asked about. Bella was uncertain of whether or not her sister had any theories on the matter. But Bella had a pretty good clue why. And she found herself telling the charming stranger. "People can sense the death in me. It scares them all on some level. Some more than others." _They can sense the bad in me._ She didn't bother to add that thought.

Jasper frowned. "Does it scare you?" For some reason, she knew he really cared how she felt.

"Yes." She admitted in a small voice.

"Maybe we could help each other out." He stated slowly in an unintentional draw, "There's a chance that I could help you."

Bella leaned forward toward him. "What do you have in mind?"

—

I came back to awareness with a gasp. My heart thudded in my chest while sweat covered my body. It seemed as though the full-blown visions, whether negative or positive news, always made my body feel like it had been hit by a truck.

Artificial lighting blinded me when I opened my eyes.

"Mary, are you alright?" A middle-aged woman in scrubs waved a small flashlight into my eyes.

"What happened?" I groaned.

"I'm Mrs. Hyde, the school nurse." Kind brown eyes bore into mine. "You were walking down the stairs from the second floor during third period. You passed out and nearly fell down the entire flight." The nurse delivered the frightening news to me in a concerned tone. She suddenly held up a vanilla folder to my face. "Your records say that you suffer from hypotension that makes you more prone to feinting spells."

I disguised my frustration behind a smile. "It's been awhile since the last time I passed out. I'm glad that it didn't result in a hospital visit."

Mrs. Hyde nodded calmly. "It'd be best if you find a buddy to walk to classes with to watch you on those stairs. Unless you want access to the handicap elevator?"

I shook my head frantically. "I'll find a buddy."

She laughed and stepped away from me. A frown marred her face in a drastic change of mood. "I forgot to mention that someone actually saved you from falling. Rosalie Hale dove and caught you."

The blonde, voluptuous girl paraded into my mind at the mention of that name. Jasper's twin. A huge grin threatened to crack through my face. That vision that I had...

It had been wonderful. "I'll be sure to thank her." I said while standing up swiftly. "And thank you Mrs. Hyde!" I sped out of the office with my backpack jiggling from the motion.

—-

Frustration cracked my skin as I slammed through the door with a tired Bella trailing me. My feet pounded into Charlie's hardwood floors in a frightening impression of Godzilla. Items, including my backpack and makeup bag, went flying in all directions. "Why the hell is he resisting fate so _damn_ much?" I screeched.

Jasper Hale was avoiding me. There was no denying it. Two weeks have passed since my lovely vision and the bastard hasn't let me near enough to him to so much as look at him. It both infuriated and impressed me that the boy couldn't understand how wonderful we were going to be together.

Bella was no help, as she proved when she grunted in an unhelpful fashion. I couldn't help but tilt my head to the side at the unusual behavior. "No advice for me?" I asked.

"Mary, I'm hardly qualified to tell you how to seduce a boy." Bella responded with a light laugh.

"I will draft up a plan and see which components that you approve of in the morning." I turned on my heel and left her, determined to change Jasper's desperate avoidance of me.

He would break soon, he had to.

I fell asleep after working on the nonexistent draft for three hours in my head, trying my best to brainstorm a plan where Jasper would instantly fall in love with me and we could get on with our lives. By the time I opened my eyes again, it was three in the morning.

A sudden tummy ache made me moan. _Maybe Bella has some TUMs_. I sprang out of bed and skipped to her room. I opened the door.

 _Squeak!_ I jumped as that terrible noise rang through the darkness. I flipped the lights on and only saw Bella in bed. She sprang up eerily with her fists raced.

"What was that noise?" She asked in alarm.

"The door?"

Bella shook her head adamantly. "That door has never squeaked."

We both suddenly looked at the window. My heart pounded in my ears as I ran to it in a burst of courage and sprang it open.

 _Squeak!_ An identical sound to the one prior sounded off.

"There weren't any ghosts all night and so a poltergeist is out of the question... _Someone_ must've closed the window and made that sound when you came in here." Bella whispered, her nimble mind deciphering the clues in front of us quickly. A shudder rocked through her body in revulsion. "I only don't see ghosts when a Cullen is around. That bastard was watching me while I slept!"

The panic in Bella's voice infuriated me.


	6. Prey

"Where's Edward at?" Rose asked in mild irritation. Jasper shrugged as he sat down on the couch next to her. He casually reached for the remote and flicked it to a sports channel that he knew that they both liked. It was three AM, and it was normally around this time that Jasper hung out with his adoptive siblings.

"I don't know. He was feeling a lot better than he was this morning." They could both hear Emmett cursing above in his and Rose's room. "I can't believe that online gaming is keeping Em so occupied."

Rose laughed. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. His team is losing." She chortled.

They watched silently for a couple hours before Emmett came barreling down the stairs. "If it ain't my heroic angel and the shrink." It was obvious that he was trying to stir trouble. For the past two weeks, Rosalie had been dubbed heroic angel in honor of saving Mary from that fall.

Jasper's undead heart had sputtered at the thought of the girl falling down those stairs.

Emmett's angel groaned. "Fine, I'll never catch another falling human even if she is going to break her neck! I just thought she smelled too delicious to just let spill on the floor." Her aggravated feelings and apathy reenforced those words.

"Aw, babe. What's so wrong with being a hero?" Dimples appeared on Emmett's cheeks and Rosalie calmed considerably at the sight.

"Do you know where Edward is?" Jasper repeated the question from his lazy position on the couch. He needed a distraction from Mary. She had a way of crawling underneath his skin as she had been aggressively creating plots to draw him in.

She was very close to getting what she wanted.

Edward came in through the side door. His hair was wind-blown as if he'd been running quite a bit. That wasn't, however, what had Jasper springing to his feet. Unfamiliar fear clung to his throat. "You _weren't_."

He smelled very familiar to Mary, yet not quite as sweet. Edward's black eyes avoided his guiltily. Within a second, he had his fist around his neck, forcing his brother to look at him. The mindreader met his eyes and Jasper was startled to see that his pupils were an endless sea of black. "I'm... sorry. I really wasn't there to eat her."

An unnecessary breath rattled his chest. "Where were you?" He asked through clenched teeth. He heard Esme and Carlisle run down from their room with concern rolling off of them.

Edward didn't speak for about a minute. Embarrassment rolled off of him. "Come on, you never give anyone else any privacy." Emmett taunted. He was the only relaxed one in the room.

"I... was in Bella Swan's bedroom."

Jasper dropped him in disgust and shoved him away. "What the hell?"

Edward stared at him as if he hadn't just confessed that he was stalking an underage female.

Esme gasped while Rosalie stormed in front of him. Her long sleek sheen of blonde hair tossed before she stood in front of him. "Did the human know you were there?" She asked.

The look on his face was all the rest of the family needed. A groan went through the room. "Bro, drinking her blood would literally disgust me less." Emmett sounded faintly sick. "Don't stare at an unknowing girl while she's sleeping. Damn."

Carlisle stepped forward. "Why?" The disappointment in the Cullen leader's voice made Edward take a step back.

"I wanted to try and get used to the scent of her blood." Edward admitted. His slightly embarrassed and nervous feelings hit Jasper like a train.

"Tell the whole damn truth, Edward." He groaned.

"It frustrates me that I can't read her mind." He said quietly. The sound of a pin dropping could be heard before he broke the silence again. "She intrigues me."

"And that gives you the right to break into her bedroom and take _her_ life into _your_ hands? Out of pride?" Carlisle asked angrily. "I can't accept that Edward, especially of my son."

The damn stalker nodded quickly. "I won't do it again. I'm sorry, Carlisle, everyone." His shame seemed to sweep through him. "I have never felt this out of control in all of my existence."

Jasper snorted and stormed out of the door. It made little sense to watch as everyone forgave him. He liked Bella and after their few weeks of collaborating on the best way to avoid Mary's crazy stunts, they had even become friends. He'd been working on easing the student's feelings towards the girl during their class together. He could still remember the girl's joy when another student from that class, Angela, had asked if they could study together.

She didn't deserve his brother's selfish bullshit.

He didn't believe that Edward would stop his stalking of her. Vampires changed little, but when they did, it was normally fairly permanent. From now on, Edward would probably just be more cautious to not smell of her when he returned home. Jasper's fist went through a tree in utter frustration. Then he took off.

—-

I laid in bed beside Bella with my eyes wide open. Her steady breathing assured me that she was asleep, and I was relieved for it. That Cullen bastard had scared the hell out of both of us. Anger thrummed through my body, but another vision hit me a second later.

The visions were now becoming so seamless that it took mere seconds to snap out of them. They still did feel like a truck hit me though. I blinked to awareness. Then I carefully crawled out of the bed.

We had another visitor. In the woods. I glided silently through the house and went outside the back door facing the forest. He wouldn't run this time. I kept my feet bare because I knew it would irritate him.

"Jasper, come out. I'll step on a sharp stick if you don't-" I threatened before a soft wind ruffled my hair. A dark figure stood before me.

"You shouldn't be out here, Mary." His voice was thick with anger, but I knew it wasn't because of me. The supernatural speed that he had displayed confirmed a number of my visions.

"Will you be able to keep him away from Bella?" I asked. I tilted my head up towards him and blindly felt his cold body until I found his hand. My other hand searched upward until it found his face, making me tiptoe precariously.

"If he fights me on this, then he's lost all of his pride and his sense. My family can't believe he's done this." He growled. His jaw was granite yet somehow even more tense than what was normal.

It reminded me of all that amazing resolve of Jasper's that my visions kept showing me, all of the pain that he went through everyday. "Your kind kills people, why don't all of you?" I found myself saying. Subtlety had never been my strong suit, and it hardly seemed logical or efficient to pretend as though Jasper and I were anything but what we were.

A surprised laugh came out of him while he tried to gently untangle his hand from mine. He also tried to shy away from my hand on his face, but I moved with him. I then put my head on his chest, breathing his scent in.

_He smelled as good as he had in the visions._

His efforts ceased for a second. "Just what are you that allows you to know all of this?" He asked in amazement. "It's forbidden for you to know what we are."

"Stop trying to interfere with fate." I murmured. "Me and Bella are going to get killed if this nonsense continues. We are safer with you." A cloud moved off the moon and suddenly I could see him. He peered down at me in an almost fearful way, like _I_ could somehow hurt _him_. "It'll be alright, Jazz." I smiled up at him.

"How do you know?"

"Can't you tell already?" I teased. "Please stop teaming up with my sister to drive me crazy. I also can't wait to meet your family next week." A thought occurred to me then as Jasper's mouth popped open in shock. "That one's real blurry though so maybe-"

A large hand went over my mouth. "Sweetheart, I understand." He smiled down at me. "I'll listen to you from now on."

I tilted my head at him. Well, that was easier than anything else in this relationship had been so far.

He removed his hand and then flicked my nose. "Go on back to sleep. I'll be out here, little witch. I'll see you in the morning."

"No you're not." I pouted. "No rain tomorrow and tons of sun. The weatherman never gets it right." He laughed in response before he somehow got out of my arms and was gone. A yawn broke past my lips.

The woods didn't seem so creepy when I knew he was here. I drifted back to the house slowly. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow in Bella's room.

—

 _Ten years_. James had caught the scent ten years ago in Florida. It must've been that the human had been on a boat somewhere several miles out on the open sea. A wind must've picked up the barest amount, in just the right direction, and it had drifted along until it reached the small bay where his hunting coven had been hunting.

The pure unluckiness that the human had possessed at that exact moment astounded James. Because that scent had been the most delicious that he had ever smelled. He had immediately dove into the ocean but the trail had dissipated. The boat must've slipped out of his range in the nick of time.

James had torn out so many throats out in anger when he'd returned to shore that both Victoria and Laurent had had to burn the family's house to get rid of all the evidence.

After that, he'd checked all of the local ports, followed by the remote docks of Florida until the scent finally burned in his nostrils once more. Normally, this would have almost guaranteed success for James as tracking prey was what he lived for. Victoria and Laurent had flanked both of his sides in amusement then, almost giddy at the idea of seeing what had worked their leader up to paramount levels of bloodlust.

It had been shocking when the prey's scent disappeared at the Miami International Airport. Planes and boats were contraptions that were rarely used together in James' vast hunting experience. But together, this combination had allowed the prey to escape. To make matters worse, James concluded it was a rather delicious _family_ that he was after.

One scent was the original draw, sweet and overpowering and _his_ , while the other scent tantalized him as an appropriate snack. They drew him in until no number of throats he tore out in the following ten years did them justice.

He rarely drank blood now unless hungry, and hadn't hunted a human since. He was still hunting _them_.

So his coven now wandered the United States and only hunted other vampires for sport. They had torn apart several other covens, targeting only the ones that possessed a gifted member. It was a simple way of life, and James almost forget his purpose while under its lull.

_A beast slumbered until **the** hunt picked up again._

The hunting trio stood on top of a canyon in Arizona so that they had a clear view of their query. Two vampires, both male, were unaware of their presence. It was rumored that one of them possessed unnatural speed even by vampire standards.

James wanted to put that speed to the test. Laurent, eyes narrowed over the endless display of rocks, sighed at the familiar look of utter fascination on his leader's face.

 _Immortality is boring._ This mantra had dictated all parts of Laurent's existence since the morning he had awoken immortal. Some asshole had ripped his throat out in 1700s France and the wayward venom had seeped just enough in the wound for vampirism to occur.

Laurent hated the idea of having an eternity to accomplish whatever he wanted. As a mortal, he had strived to make his mark on the world so that he would be immortal in the minds of men. Vampirism had turned those dreams to ash. The world had forgotten him and any accomplishments made on his behalf now were that of a monster.

But James, the problematic hunter, had changed all of that. At the very least, Laurent had the tracker's dreams to follow.

"On three, we close flanks. Give them enough warning to flee." James murmured. Long moments passed before Laurent and Victoria sprang into silent action.

They maneuvered themselves into a swift formation that only became noisy once they were close to the vamps. As planned, both of the males took off in sprints that left dust flurrying into eddies behind them. One, however, was significantly faster than the other.

"Now!" A grinning Victoria called as they closed in on the slower man.

Her wild-red curls sailed through the air as she tackled the man. Laurent went for his neck. He snapped it with a practicality that Victoria likely would not have granted. He then tore off the head and tossed it to her.

James tore off past the scene towards the true prey. Victoria looked after her mate's form admiringly as she tossed a lighter to Laurent.

 _Must I do everything?_ The French vampire thought to himself in annoyance as he knelt down to set the corpse aflame.

The task was interrupted by an uncharacteristic gasp from Victoria. "He has _stopped_."

He looked back up to see that she was right. James stood stock still against the moonlight of the desert. It was rare for vampires to come to places of the sun, but this prey had hoped to evade them with the unusual location.

"What's wrong?" Laurent called out to their leader. The other vampire never let go of a target if he could help it.

Ruby eyes turned to meet his own. A wild snark was engraved in James' face. " _I found the scent_." The words came out in a terrifying hiss of air.

Laurent knew then that his boredom would be almost nonexistent in the following weeks.


	7. Port Angeles

A sunny day met us as Bella and I left the house for school. I hopped into the passenger seat while Bella swung into the driver's seat. The engine rumbled awake and I could almost feel Bella's giddy satisfaction over it. "Did any ghosts bother you for the rest of the night?" I asked.

The shadows under her eyes were drastically improved from their normal raccoon rings. Which _was_ impressive considering the not-so-ghostly appearance of Edward Cullen last night.

"No, none of them bothered me." Bella answered slowly, "I would almost hire one of those Cullens for warding ghosts off if they weren't so damn creepy."

"You wouldn't even hire Jasper? Seems like you guys talk enough." I said wryly. I finally was prepared to confront her now that I had won Jasper over. I found it cute that they had banded against me.

A nervous laugh busted out of my older sister. "I figured you would find out eventually." She rubbed her neck sheepishly. After a slight pause, she admitted. "He's a good guy, Mary... but definitely not human or safe."

"When have we _ever_ been safe? It will all probably work out..." I tried to keep my voice confident. If Bella knew the truth, we would probably be living on the streets of Florida by now. With my visions increasing in frequency, I had noticed that the future was anything but certain when it came to the Cullens.

Silence hung for a few minutes until the truck finally slid into its spot in the school parking lot. "I am going to Port Angeles after school with that Angela girl." The words spilled from Bella's mouth in a rush as if she was frightened that I would somehow strike her down for them.

I blinked once. Twice. Then I squealed and threw my arms around her. "That's sooo cool!" She had never made plans with anyone before.

"I was wondering if you could come with?" Bella's blush went past her neck.

"Sure, sure. It'll be fun to see what shops are there." I agreed easily. I hoped the rest of the day would be just as cool.

The sun hit my skin as I practically danced from class to class. I was getting excited for all of the day's promise as lunchtime hit. The buzz of the cafeteria greeted me as I walked to our usual abandoned table in the corner. Plopping my backpack onto it, I turned around to get some food.

Only to be stopped by Jessica Stanley and another girl who seemed to be the one in charge. This girl stood quite a bit taller than either Jessica or me. Her long silky blonde hair and green gem eyes were very pretty, and reminded me of the models in some of my fashion magazines. Together, Jessica and the stranger stood deliberately in my way with both of their arms crossed like bouncers. Was Jessica still mad about last month's volleyball incident?

"Hi, how are you guys?" I asked in a deliberately upbeat fashion. Friendly was always the best approach when surrounded by girls who looked ready to pick me up and toss me into the nearest garbage can. It normally threw them off balance.

Jessica seemed to fall for it since her blue eyes went extremely wide in surprise and she shook her head as if trying to clear it. Unfortunately, the other girl seemed to be an altogether different beast. She took several steps towards me in response while her shoulders seemed to get broader. It was kind of intimidating. "Mary, I came here with a warning." She said importantly.

I tilted my head to the side. "And you are...?"

Now that seemed to enrage her more than anything else. "My name is Lauren Mallory, and you and your sister better decline Mike if he asks either of you to the dance."

It was difficult not to let my confusion shine through even further. It would probably make this girl angrier if I asked who Mike was. Out of all of the schools that Bella and I have attended, _this_ was a first. "Sure." I waved my hand dismissively. "Consider it done."

"You bitch." Lauren seethed through her teeth. "You are _not_ better than us. Don't think we haven't all noticed how you've been going after Jasper Hale!" Her voice increased in volume so that the whole cafeteria seemed to be watching us now. The normal babbling of all the students had simmered to a low whisper. I thanked my lucky stars that the Cullens weren't here; Rosalie and Emmett thinking I am some crazy stalker would not help further my goal of befriending them.

Was she actually mad because I wasn't interested in this Mike guy? "Look, I just want to eat my lunch in peace. I'm sorry if you feel that way." I turned my back to sit down at my table. Hopefully they would move so I could get my lunch in a couple minutes.

The crazy bitch actually grabbed the back of my arm and tugged me towards her. It hurt. "Don't fucking ignore me or I'll tell everybody here how much of a whore your mother is." She whispered venomously in my ear.

The thought of the entire town gossiping about Renee with Charlie around caused my ears to ring in shock. I had always noticed the whispers at restaurants and looks in my direction around Forks, but this just confirmed my theory. I was just about to submit to the psycho when suddenly I became aware of a much bigger threat.

Bella was by my side with her fists clenched. It wasn't often that my sister had such a large presence. In fact, I'm almost certain that she had mastered the ability to make her presence as unobtrusive as possible in public. Ice, cold and angry, pierced through the air. A collective shiver seemed to run through the very walls. I stood unaffected as I'd always been immune to whatever terror Bella could cause.

If it had been silent before, then it was now so quiet that someone could've dropped a pin and it would've been heard as Bella ripped Lauren's hand off my shoulder. Tendons strained against her hand as she squeezed the other girl's arm as hard as possible.

Lauren fell to her knees with a cry. " _Do you want to see my nightmares?_ " Bella whispered almost without noise into Lauren's ear.

She then let go of the girl. The screaming began instantly. "Make it stop!" Lauren's screech caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand.

I watched in horror as Lauren's eyes momentarily appeared pitch black. She began to writhe on the floor as Bella watched her with cool eyes. As this happened, mass panic broke out amongst the students. They began to either crowd us or rush to the double-wide doors leading to outside.

Shaking my head to get out of the shocked trance I was under, I grabbed Bella's hand and dragged her away from Lauren. She needed jerked firmly away from the scene before the screaming and the bad mojo ceased.

The instant that was achieved, Bella looked at me with wide, scared eyes. I shoved past people the best I could while I kept dragging her. We did our best to get as far from the crowd as possible while numerous eyes followed. The bright midday sun blinded surreally against the sidewalk pavement.

"How bad was it?" Bella asked in a shaking voice.

I mulled the question over carefully before responding. "They can't really pin you for anything. You just grabbed her hand."

"But they all might say-"

"There are cameras." I interrupted her. "Noticed on our first day." So the possibility of group think creating a monstrous recount of today's events to get Bella jailed was improbable.

Bella finally let out a sigh of relief. She then released my hand that I hadn't realized she'd still been holding. Her stomach growled. "I'm hungry."

"Me too." We both looked at each other in misery at the thought of returning to the cafeteria.

The rest of the day was relatively gloomy as the amount of staring and whispering brought my overall mood crashing into the fiery abyss. I was trudging, bloody and defeated, to the truck when I noticed Bella alongside me. She looked relatively unphased by the sea of eyes following our every step.

"Is this what it's like to be you?" I couldn't help but ask.

A small quirk of a smile hit my sister's face. "You'll get used to it, comrade. But I must admit that it takes awhile." Her amusement disappeared as soon as the last word left her mouth.

It was a relief to shut our ugly truck's door in the face of our classmates. A satisfying clang rang through the air. Bella efficiently backed the truck out and lazily rolled away from the scene. "Will you help me get ready for the Los Angeles trip?" She asked.

I made a noise of agreement while she turned up the radio to an ungodly level of sound. Metal music surrounded us in a soothing tempo. I had forgotten about the trip but it gave a nice distraction from today's fiasco. From Bella's silence, it was easy to see that the school officials hadn't pinned the incident on her yet.

They probably were assuming Lauren had an emotional meltdown. Serves her right.

 _I'll tell everybody here how much of a whore your mother is._ Those words echoed through my head and suddenly I hoped that Bella had scared Lauren enough for her to drop the threat. It was only later as I was braiding Bella's hair that it occurred to me that tomorrow was also sunny. A groan ripped through me.

"What's wrong?" Bella looked sharply up from her car magazine.

"Jasper isn't going to be at school tomorrow either." I pouted while she gave no reaction. "Is it alright if I get you super cute for this event? It'll make me feel less crabby."

"Only slightly better than my normal clothes please. We are just hanging out. Casually." Bella went back to her magazine as I began the long process of picking our new outfits out.

It was very difficult keeping my thoughts to myself. Particularly once we met Angela near the bookstore that had been agreed on. She was very tall and had a willowy figure that inspired a million designs to run through my mind. She was dressed in a lovely navy dress. "Hi." She waved at us.

Bella shyly ducked her head while shoving her hands in her basketball shorts pockets. "Hi Angie, this is my sister Mary."

I tried not to wave too enthusiastically as Bella's first friend looked me over curiously. It nearly killed me not to babble excitedly at her. We began walking along the strip mall while people milled about. Several shops caught my eye, but I hung back as Bella and Angela talked quietly to each other.

 _Window shopping..._ The realization that my companions only wanted to look around hit me like a ton of bricks. _But that's so cute._ I thought in utter despair as a mini skirt that would go perfect with the newest top I'd sewn slowly went past us.

My feet dragged for half a second before I was in the store.

"Oh _balls_." Thirty minutes later, a plastic bag full of clothes later, I realized that I had fucked up. The sky was turning into dusk while a lovely purple hue overtook the streets. And Bella and Angela were nowhere in sight.

My tummy rumbled and I couldn't help but let out a huff of irritation. Why had I let Bella encourage my addiction? I now had no money, my cell phone was dead, and there was a ginger creep staring at me from across the street.

Edward Cullen had a hungry expression on his face. Flashes of my death, both tragic and lamely unaesthetic, paraded to life before my eyes. It was as if all of the people on the street had disappeared. "Oh hell no." I hoisted my almost bursting shopping bag over my shoulder and began to hobble away to the best of my ability.

The hysterical, homicidal premonitions ceased once there was a fair distance between us. If he didn't smell me and was as scared of Jazz as I suspected him to be, the damn ginger would stay away.

Air shook into my lungs in exchange for the effort that hauling the extra weight from my clothes required. I drooped against a brick wall, only then realizing that I had accidentally entered a much seedier part of Port Angeles.

A groan escaped me. _Edward better give me and Jazz a real nice present at our wedding for putting me through this bullshit._ I looked impatiently around for any familiar places or faces.

The only establishment around was an open bar nearly overflowing with rowdy people. Dog whistles flew my way as I walked past in a direction that hopefully pointed towards my sister and civilization.

I continued to focus on thoughts of Edward when several pairs of hands pulled me back into the alley. A grimy, smelly hand went over my mouth and nose. My shoulder hit the ground, followed by the rest of my body.

Pain saluted through my bones while all that could be seen was human skin way too close to my face. I struggled as much as I could but a lack of oxygen leached any of my strength left.

"Hold her fucking still!" A nasally man's voice pierced through the oxygen that I wanted so badly. Part of my shirt ripped as more hands forced me down.

Then all of that terrible weight was gone while I gasped for air. Grunts and a low shriek filled the air.

"Leave her alone." Edward growled. His marble hand smashed menacingly into the brick of the alley while my attackers fled.

I sat on the concrete and did my best to catch up on my breath for some time until everything seemed halfway real again. "You just saved me."

Tears filled my eyes as I began to cry from relief.


	8. Temper

"What were you _thinking_? In what moment did it occur to you that walking alone in this area was a good idea?! Oh wait, I can read your mind. You weren't thinking." I was still on the ground with tears streaming down my face as Edward paced frantically around the alley. He continued to talk and sass me, but I began to ignore him.

 _How didn't I see that?_ Visions had been bombarding me ever since I'd arrived in Forks yet they hadn't shown me this? I slowly crawled up to a sitting position, wincing as I realized the extent of my bruises.

Pale hands gestured hopelessly around me in the moonlight. "I'm sorry that you're hurt." He didn't seem very sorry.

"What the hell are you doing here? You were about to kill us!" I accused.

Edward took a step back from me. "Those visions you get." He gave me a creeped out look, "You're not crazy, are you?"

I wrapped shaking arms around myself as I glared at him. "Didn't you just say you can read my mind?" _What a hypocrite_.

Whatever Edward was about to say, I would never know.

—

Jasper sped along the highway with fury clinging to his gut. The sun had finally gone down, and so his dumbass brother had taken off like a lunatic. Towards Port Angeles with his eyes pitch black.

He had refused to hunt today since his lust for Bella's blood was making him feed more often. Edward's pride was going to get a human, most likely Bella, killed.

There was no way Jasper was letting Edward near a city that hungry. He squeezed his hand on the accelerator until he was off of the exit, arcing his way into the streets.

Tracking was hardly a gift of his, but he was amazed to spot Bella on the street near a Bath and Body Works. Angela Weber stood close to the girl, talking quietly to her with a concerned look on her face. So his brother had followed the Swan sisters here. Gut clenching at Mary's absence, he went on foot to catch their scent trail while trying to remain inconspicuous. He drew his hood up over his head.

Too many scents almost completely obscured Bella's unique scent, but he barely managed to track it back to where he could catch Mary's. He followed it quickly until Edward's scent merged with her own. If Jasper had been angry before, he was beyond thought now.

He went past human speed until he reached an alley and saw Edward standing over a hunched, tiny form on the ground. Her spiky hair alleviated any doubts that Jasper may had fostered about his brother's intentions.

He heard Mary say something angrily to Edward, but he could hardly hear at that point. He flung his brother across the alley and almost succeeded in slamming his hand into his chest cavity. But the damn mind reader had always been his most difficult adversary. He spun out of the way.

Edward was evading his attacks with a minimalistic, annoying precision. "It's not what you think, Jasper. Listen to her." His voice was pleading.

He finally got a hold of the redhead. He'd always been stronger than him, just not as fast. He grappled with him while trying to grab hold of his head. Jasper didn't even notice the growls spilling from his chest.

Suddenly a shrill scream froze Jasper in the middle of his attempt to dismantle Edward into tiny pieces. The hesitation was all that his brother needed to untangle himself from his hold.

He assumed a protective crouch in front of Mary, quickly assessing damage on her. She was seriously scuffed up with several rips in her shirt. Her shoulder looked scrapped and was bleeding slightly and it looked as if she had been crying. While he took a careful mental inventory of every last scratch, he also kept an eye on Edward.

His girl was glaring at him. "Quit growling!"

Why was she mad at _him_? Also, had she screamed just to get him off of Edward? Her anger assaulted his senses in droves. He quit growling with some serious effort. Unfortunately, Edward took that as a sign that he could approach so the growls started again as he hugged Mary tight to his body. "Mine." He made his warning explicit.

A tiny hand grabbed at his face. "Would you please listen to me?" He ignored her.

Edward rolled his eyes at him. "I'm going home." He announced. He sprinted out of the alley before Jasper could continue his attack.

It took a few minutes before Jasper was sure that the threat was truly gone. Only then did his attention direct itself to Mary. He looked down at her. "Where did he hurt you, sweetheart?"

Venom rushed to his mouth when he realized just how good Mary smelled, yet he was surprised that his hunger hadn't made itself known while he'd been attempting to end Edward's sad existence as a ginger virgin.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you , Jazz!" His little witch shoved on his shoulders. "He saved my life."

 _Oh._ Jasper felt a little bit like an asshole, but didn't let the mistake keep him down long. "Who did this to you then?" He felt his body tighten with violence.

A dark pause passed and it seemed as if all of Mary's courage dissipated. "A bunch of guys... they dragged me into this alley."

Jasper drew in a deep, unnecessary breath while he shoved all of his violent plans to the side as he silently began to memorize the scents lingering in the alley. "Are you all right?" He asked. It made him so angry that fear and anger were coming from the most vibrant person he'd ever met.

"I will be all right." Mary looked down at her torn clothes and then her dusty hands. "Can you help me out with this? I really don't want to be seen like _this_." Her voice cracked on the last word and it was obvious that she was still in shock.

He kept rigid control over himself as he handed his jacket over to her. Jesus. He'd be lucky if a cop didn't stop them. "You got any other clothes that you could wear?"

Mary nodded and held up an equally dusty shopping bag. Carefully, Jasper helped her to stand. He remembered the nearest public restroom and half carried her there while trying to make it appear as though she was just clinging to his arm.

As she changed, he tried not to appear too creepy right next to the woman's restroom.

"Jasper!" A familiar voice called out. Bella ran up to him unsurprisingly unsteady with her wide brown eyes scared. "Have you seen Mary?"

A much more graceful Angela followed behind. She hung back warily at the sight of him.

Jasper leaned conspicuously into Bella's ear. "There was an accident. She's all right, but I think she'd rather go home soon." Mary's sister nodded with a grim look.

Mary then bust out of the bathroom with the new clothes on and with a much calmer exterior. She still wore Jasper's jacket, which should've looked ridiculous, but he couldn't help the feeling of adoration at the sight.

A blush hit her face when she saw Bella, but it was quickly replaced by a grin. "Hi guys!" She waved her ridiculously dainty hand at her three companions.

"Where'd you head off to?" Angela spoke up curiously.

The little female grabbed his hand and squeezed. The vampire stared down at her in surprise, but gauging Mary's emotional state, Jasper allowed her to take the reigns on the question.

"I saw Jasper in one of the stores we were passing and wanted to say hi." She explained calmly. "You guys were stopped looking at something so I thought that there was enough time. I'm so sorry if I made you worry!"

The earnest, sheepish expression on Mary's face seemed to almost instantly win Angela over. "Well that's all right. I'm glad you're okay!"

"Maybe it's time to go." Bella said hesitantly. Angela's expression instantly fell.

"We don't have to go!" Mary protested quickly.

Silence enveloped the group when Jasper decided to take matters into his own hands. Mary had bruises, physical and emotional, to hide from Angela, but she didn't want to interrupt her sister's good time. So he would make sure it all happened.

He sent calm to all three girls. "Mary and I were actually hoping to catch dinner and a movie. Is it cool if I take her home, Bella?"

A pleading stare from both Mary and Jasper quickly placated Bella. "Sure." She sighed. She turned and caught Angela's hand into her own. "Let's go."

Angela blushed and dazedly walked away with Bella leading her. Mary's jaw popped open. "I never thought she'd be so _bold_."

He couldn't help but agree.

—-

"She's getting a helluva lot more confident with the more time she spends with that girl." Jasper agreed while looking after the pair with thoughtful eyes. His honey eyes entrapped me into a daze.

"You don't care that my sister is gay?" I asked in surprise.

He snorted while absentmindedly rubbing his thumb on the top of my hand. "Who cares about that anymore?"

"Bella can sense age." I answered sensibly. "She tells me that you and your family feel old. Plus I've had some visions of you nagging me about _our_ ages." I glared at him preemptively.

Jasper held his free hand out in surrender. "Look darling, getting mad at me over something I haven't done yet isn't fair. Also, judging your sister on something like that when I'm a _vampire_ seems a bit petty."

It was the first time that he'd spoken what Bella and I had figured out weeks ago. A breeze suddenly ruffled our hair and gave me a great sense of our future shifting in a fundamental twist.

I smiled up at him as we began walking toward wherever Jasper wanted. It was away from where I was attacked, thank goodness. "Good, because I would've dumped you if even one negative syllable about Bella was uttered."

He smirked without saying anything. Finally, we arrived in front of a barbecue place. My stomach rumbled furiously at the sight while I stared down at my shirt. "You traitor." I whispered to it. I felt Jasper shake with silent laughter next to me.

"C'mon." He let go of my hand and opened the door. Like a Southern gentleman.

It made me realize, as much as I wanted our future, how little I knew about him. "Where are you from?"

Jasper chuckled. "The town doesn't have a name anymore, but southern Texas."

I couldn't help letting out an exuberant squeal while the hostess shot an affronted glare at me. We walked to the back of the restaurant near a window. The dim sky, which had been a dusky purple since we'd gotten to the city, was now fading to twilight. "Do you know how to ride a horse? I love horses!" The words were out of my mouth before I could control them.

He gave me a bewildered look. "I thought you knew everything, girl. Make your damn mind up."

The hostess left us after an audible gulp of seeing Jasper's arms flexed against the table as he leaned towards me. It was hard not to feel like a total boss once I realized that he only had eyes for me. The restaurant lighting hit his jawline which caused me to trace it without thinking with my pointer finger.

He was so pale that he made me look tan. It wasn't difficult to see that he had definitely seen work in his life. Tiny ridges of skin, nearly imperceivable particles of texture, peaked my interest. He caught my hand abruptly from my investigation. "Don't." He murmured dangerously.

Jasper had transformed into a hardened man within an instant. However, his gentle grip on my hand and my gut instinct destroyed any fear I might possibly of had.

"What changed? Why are you letting me near you now?" It was a little hard to believe that this gorgeous man wanted _me_. Even with the visions reassuring me that he did, there'd been moments when his rejection had pierced straight through my chest cavity.

He looked guilty at that instant and I could've nearly slapped myself for putting any ideas in his head. "I was close to giving in on my own," He admitted slowly, "but my idiotic brother seems determined to fall off of the bandwagon with you Swan girls."

"Bandwagon?"

His face twisted until I could suddenly see the man who'd been close to ripping his own brother into pieces. "You know exactly what I mean. Your sister's blood drives Edward more wild and more out of control than I've ever seen him. Logic won't work on him."

"So you want to protect us? Why?" I knew why, but I wanted to hear the words.

Jasper leaned back away from the table. His honey blonde hair suddenly fell back from his face, highlighting his eyes that were clearly checking me out. His mouth drew into a savage smile that sent a shiver of straight desire through me. "Don't try playing with me, sweetie. You know you're mine."

We both heard menus being placed down discretely before a waitress scurried away as if something caught fire.


	9. Powers

My blood roared into my ears as Jasper burst out laughing. His laugh was loud enough and made him so _beyond_ handsome that some people began to openly stare. "You've been coming for me since the time we've met yet me being direct does this to you?"

"You shocked me." His eyebrows raised at that and heat flooded to my cheeks. "I don't know everything, Jasper." I felt as though I was trying to speak through a giant lump in my throat. "The visions I have don't tell me everything. Sometimes they don't even happen."

"You have visions? Of the future?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"Your mind-reading brother didn't tell you?"

Rage temporarily crossed Jasper's face before evaporating. "We haven't exactly been on the best of terms lately." He admitted slowly. "With him wanting to kill Bella and obsessing over her and all."

A comfortable silence passed over us as food arrived. Steaming steak, Mac and cheese, and plenty of French fries. I went to town without thought. My shoulder burned from my scrapes which made me wince as I reached for the A1 sauce. Jasper watched me silently with a content look on his face even as his cool hand touched my shoulder lightly.

"Ow!" I slapped his hand away while I glared at him. "What was that for?"

"Sorry. Just checking if it's as bad as I think it is before Carlisle takes a look at you after dinner. We should be able to get you home at a decent time and it'll let me switch vehicles." He tucked my hair behind my ear gently.

"Okay." I shoved more food into my mouth. A checkup was the last thing I wanted, but I'd finally get to meet the family that kept visiting me in my dreams. "Why a change in vehicles though?"

"I don't want Chief Swan shooting me for dropping you off on a motorcycle. Hardly seems smart." He shoved his plate towards me since my plate was emptied.

"Did you like barbecue when you were human?" My dreams kept telling a ton. Like how Emmett will keep trying human food to everyone's disgust, but those little tidbits of information just made me all the more desperate to know Jasper.

His mouth twisted a bit. "Oh yeah. Doesn't come through so clear anymore, but I can remember Ma making stuff like this."

The statement made me frown. "Your memories as a human fade?" The idea of not remembering Bella, Mom, or Charlie was awful.

"Almost immediately, but depends on the vampire. Rosalie remembers the most." At those words, I'd finally maxed out on food. I pushed it away from myself as Jasper quietly paid the bill. Since I'd quit my cashiering job to move out here, it was much appreciated.

I was running out of shopping funds pretty quickly since I'd been helping to fuel our monstrosity of a truck.

Jazz grabbed my hand as we walked out into the night. Charlie had given me and Bella a midnight curfew so it didn't look like it'd be a problem. The night life of Port Angeles was beginning to bubble to the surface, reminding me that it was a Friday. Everything seemed so unreal, and the throbbing in my shoulder just seemed to heighten the issue.

"C'mon let's get you a helmet."

I tried to suppress my groan at the thought of what that would do to my hair.

—-

"You have a ten o' clock curfew?" Bella groaned in despair. Angela and her stood outside the movie theater where Angela had agreed to meet for her dad to pick her up. "I could've taken you home, you know. There's no need for him to go all this way."

"He won't let other students drive me." Angela said in her quiet and apologetic way. "Sorry."

"What's it like?" Bella wondered out loud. "Not having them know?" She'd never really had to verbalize to either Charlie, Renee, or Mary that she liked girls. But they knew and Bella knew that they still loved her.

"It's fine for the most part. Not like there has been someone I could really date with such a small school until you." Angela sighed. "I just know that it'll be a huge deal when they find out. Dad will probably make me go to a camp."

"Like those religious ones?" Bella had a difficult time hiding her disgust at the idea of going to a camp.

"My Dad is the minister in town. Probably half of the kids at our school go to our church. I'm pretty sure I've overheard him referring someone's parents to one of those camps when they went to him for advice. He's a good father, but he's got some huge blindspots."

"Huh." Bella tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

Angela smiled a little wryly, as if she was tired from the mere thought of her father's reaction. "It'll only be a few more years till college. I'll break it to them as long as I'm not on their checkbooks. He would probably go as far as withholding help to get me back home."

Flashing headlights were then on the girls. Bella squinted against the glare. She felt arms go around her in a quick hug. "Thanks Bella! This was fun!" Angela quickly left her side to join a large man that closely resembled her.

His handsome face split into a friendly smile at Bella. "Hi, you must be Chief Swan's daughter." He shook hands with her in a featherlight grasp that rubbed Bella the wrong way straight away.

"Yes, I'm Bella. It's nice to meet you." She tried to keep her voice in a high, annoying falsetto similar to Lauren's. It would be best to give off a strictly hetero vibe for Angela's sake so that they could hang out again.

"Could you let Charlie know that he can come by the church anytime?" Mr. Weber seemed to completely ignore Bella's sentiment.

"Dad's Lutheran." Bella couldn't keep the confusion out of her voice. It was well-known that Charlie was a devout Christian that went to service in Port Angeles since Forks was too small to have a Lutheran church. Mary and Bella both went with him when he asked.

Mr. Weber nodded in a seemingly noncommittal gesture while he herded an embarrassed Angela into his SUV. It sped away from the movie theater as Bella watched with surprise.

 _Well that was rude._ She thought as she turned to go home in her truck. Maybe she could catch Jasper when he dropped Mary off later. She had some questions.

—-

" _Yep_ , you found it!" I gritted out as Dr. Cullen carefully scanned my scrapes with cool hands. We were in his study with Jasper pacing in aggravation. For some reason, it put me on edge and made my muscles tense in intense worry.

"Turn it off, will you son?" Carlisle asked casually as he began to apply some antibacterial ointment on my wounds.

"Sorry." Jasper stopped his movement and seemed to take an unnecessarily long breath. I felt instantly cheered up.

"What was that?" I asked.

"You don't know?" Jazz looked oddly pleased with himself. He then wiggled his fingers at me imposingly. "You're not the only one with superpowers, darlin."

Carlisle rolled his eyes with me. "He's an empath. He can feel others' emotions and influence them as well." He explained. He finished with his work efficiently. "Will you need any help with what happened? There are plenty of professionals I could refer you to."

My head spun at the idea of Jasper being able to feel everything that I did. It took a second to focus on Carlisle's question. I appreciated how he didn't bring up the incident directly. "I'm all right. It could've been a lot worse."

A loud banging on the door distracted all of us. "Can someone please tell us why the hell there's a human here!" Emmett's booming voice nearly shook the floor and I couldn't help a small snicker of delight. They'd all been hunting except for Carlisle when we'd arrived at the elaborate mansion that Jasper had introduced as their home.

It gave me such chills, as though I'd seen it a million times before.

Finally, I got to meet everyone. I tried not to squirm in my seat from excitement as Jasper sighed loudly and opened the door. "Can you try not to be a damn animal when we have a guest?" His accent was more announced, but it was easy to tell that he was teasing.

Emmett's large body spilled into the room and suddenly everything felt so much smaller. "Mary Swan? Did Eddie try to eat her or something?" He bent at the waist to look at me as if I was a zoo animal. He sniffed at me. "Smells like you've been bleeding."

"Why does a human know about us?" A haughty voice, extremely familiar from my dreams, interrupted.

A huge smile cracked my face. Rosalie! We were going to be great friends. Though... she hadn't sounded so hostile in my visions. She'd also saved me from that fall a few weeks ago.

Tall and gorgeous, she stood next to Emmett while glaring at my smile impetuously. "Are you nuts?" She snapped.

I looked past her to see a lovely, shapely woman who looked confused yet still friendly. Esme. It was difficult to contain myself from hugging her.

The future was beginning to melt into my present, and it didn't really help my situation that I'm so extroverted. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that relationships worked differently for other people, and time was needed for them to love me.

Carlisle stood up and lifted placating hands towards his family members. "It seems as though we are working with an anomaly here. Mary here has a gift."

"To cause trouble?" Rose snarked with her band on her hip.

"She can see the future." Jasper announced. He sounded annoyed at his sister's aggression towards me.

"Shit." Rosalie's attitude and she stared at me with an unusual amount of pity. "You don't stand a chance."

Confusion went over me, but I couldn't help but kind of get it. "It does seem like the supernatural is entwined with both my and Bella's fates." I admitted.

"If the Volturi hear of her..." Esme looked worried.

"That won't happen." Jasper declared with a confidence and authority that was difficult not to believe in. The others seemed to be calmed by his words, yet I could tell that he wasn't using his gift to reassure them.

It was just who he was as a person. He moved quickly by my side and wrapped his arms around my body.

The whole family collectively gasped. His topaz eyes met mine seriously.

"Mary, do you see us together? Is that the reason for all of the games?" He asked. My cheeks flamed.

I returned the small embrace, unable to stop myself despite the embarrassment. "Yes. Since the moment I saw you, that future hasn't changed." I whispered.

He turned to the room and held his arms out smugly. "You heard it here, folks." His smile nearly spilt his handsome face in half.

My heart melted and shattered and reformed all in an instant. Rosalie slapped her own face gently as if not believing in what she was seeing. "Jasper... I'm really trying hard not to be rude as you're my favorite brother and all, but how have you not eaten her already? She smells delicious."

Jasper didn't look offended by the question. He still looked pretty giddy by what I had told him. "My control has been better than normal ever since I laid eyes on her. Even when I found her bleeding today, feeding didn't cross my mind."

His sister pursed her perfectly shaped lips thoughtfully. "All right, I'm not so angry anymore." She whipped her eyes to me. "If you need help getting away from this madman let me know."

It was as if some serious test had been administered and I had miraculously passed. Which simultaneously gave me a shot of courage and ruined my restraint. "Sure, Rosalie. I've seen that you like to shop?" My mouth almost watered at the future shopping trip, but I tried my best to look innocent.

Rose laughed. "Maybe it's a good thing I caught you when you fell down those stairs. I'll think about it. Let's go, doofus." She grabbed Emmett, whose mouth was hanging wide open in shock, and walked out of the study.

"Wait does this mean we get to keep her?" Emmett asked Rose before they were out of earshot.

Jasper later took me back home in a really fancy black car. I squirmed in the seat as I fiddled with the radio. He stopped me once we hit an oldie's country station. "That's the shit, right there."

I shrugged happily and leaned back, enjoying the guitar parts. It was always my favorite part of any musical genre.

Finally, Jazz slid to a stop next to my house. "Looks like your sister is waiting." He observed. He walked quickly enough to my side of the door that I hadn't noticed him getting out of the car. "M'lady." He said in a sexy flourish as he opened my door. He tipped an imaginary hat.

_I need to buy him a cowboy hat._

He offered me his arm and I took it. Bella was leaning against the truck with her arms crossed strictly. "You finally gave in to the little monster?" She asked him with laughter in her voice.

Jasper chuckled. "I could only fight so much."


	10. Baseball

Jasper watched as Mary and Bella closed the door before snapping open his cell phone. He then pressed three on his speed dial.

"Yeah." Rosalie picked up with a bored voice.

"Would you mind watching the Swan house tonight with Emmett? I'd like to keep Edward from his peepin' Tom tendencies." He drawled. The logical solution would be for them to watch the redhead at home, but Edward had disappeared after the Port Angeles incident.

"If I have to, but why can't you?"

"I'm going to get those men that attacked Mary today." He growled.

"Hmm." Rose sounded carefully neutral, as if she was thinking deeply about the task at hand. "Don't go breaking your diet on those bastards' accounts. But you can consider your little fortune-teller safe with us. She's interesting."

"I'll make it look like a bloodless, tragic accident." He snapped the phone shut and then took off.

—-

"You want me to watch you guys play baseball today?" I asked curiously. I peered up at Jazz's face through the screen door of our porch.

He smiled. "It'll be fun. You could bring Bella if you want as well."

I spun absently in a circle on my tiptoes as I considered the offer. "It sounds like a good time I guess... BELLA!" I hollered.

"I'm literally right behind you." Bella's droll voice cut in. Her chocolate-molten eyes once again sported tale-tell shadows. "Making you breakfast before we were interrupted by your stupid soul-"

I stopped Bella's sarcastic iteration of the word "soulmate" by clamping my hand over her mouth. She licked it, but I persisted while I looked nervously back at Jasper. "You want us to meet you at your house later? I gotta get ready."

"You look fine to me." His golden eyes went over my form in open appreciation. Bella groaned and shuffled back to the kitchen to continue her cooking. "I'll come get you guys in about an hour if that's all right?"

"Sure. See ya then!" I shut the door in his face and then spun faster in an excited circle. "Yes!" I pumped my fist in victory.

"You really think I should go? What if the creepy one that wants to kill us is there?" Bella asked as she flipped a pancake with a lazy flick of her wrist. Her hair was up in a high ponytail with plenty of wayward strands spilling out and framing her face.

I was always so jealous of how long she could get her hair.

"Jasper will be there. And four other friendly vampires so up to you I guess." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'll go. My 'visitors' are starting to creep into the day." Bella's eyes focused over me as if there were a ghost right in the kitchen with us. "Some vampires would actually be nice right now. The damn ghosts keep warning me of something and I can't figure it out!"

I couldn't help but sympathize her. She packed up a plate for Charlie in the fridge since he was on patrol all of today. We ate breakfast quickly and I planned our outfits out accordingly. It was going to be somewhat chilly outside today. Bella laughed when she saw her clothes that I had laid out. "You're the best."

It was my least favorite shirt of hers: a tattered Marilyn Manson shirt with a minuscule jelly stain on it. She even got her loosest pair of blue jeans.

I waved my hand at her. "Don't mention it." It was the least I could do for her coming with me.

Bella squealed once she saw the ruby red, classic Jeep that Jasper rolled up in. Her excitement seemed to amuse the vampire. "You know this is Rose's baby. She probably won't let you lay a single finger on it."

"I don't blame her. It's flawless." My sister swung herself over into the backseat since it was topless. I was really glad we both had jackets. Suddenly a feeling hit me.

"Jasper, there's a thunderstorm today. Baseball will probably have to be canceled." I frowned.

He laughed. "So it really is true that you don't know _everything_. That's the reason why we can play baseball today, sugar." Bella's and my eyes both widened as he shifted us into gear and towards the Fork's town limit.

Tall trees framed the road but seemed to draw incrementally closer as we zipped through several backroads. With flourish, Jasper steered us onto a dirt road path with a private property sign prominently displayed. Bella and I both giggled wildly as we hit the bumps.

"I wanna drive on the way back!" Bella declared.

"Sure." Jasper agreed. We rolled to a stop and Bella and I carefully climbed out. He then flipped a heavy tarp from under a tree onto the Jeep. He didn't bother to hide his inhuman speed which made Bella's face go slack in surprise.

"Do you see this shit in your visions?" She asked incredulously and she waved her hand at Jazz as if he was some wayside experiment gone horribly astray.

I nodded while Jasper snickered until he was walking at a normal human pace towards us. "Wait till you see how we are going to have to get the rest of the way to the field. Mary, you're less klutzy than Bella, right?"

"Yep." With seven years of competitive gymnastics under my belt, klutzy was hardly a descriptor people used for me.

"Alrighty, then you'll hang on to my back while I carry you, Bella."

"Oh hell nah. Going that fast?" She demanded. Her eyes were flashing with annoyance.

"You like fast cars." I pointed out. "Can't be that much different from a race car." I then slung myself quickly onto Jazz's back.

"Yeah, a race car in a forest full of trees." Bella snarked under her breath. She then caught my puppy pout look and groaned. "Fine, but it would be so much cooler if vampires played basketball instead."

She slowly approached us and held up her arms. Jasper laughed. "Just hold still. If you don't like it after the first time, we'll hike back."

On that promise, we flew through the trees so fast that every detail became a colored blur. My head spun slightly at the anomaly. Then we were in an open clearing where the spinning persisted. I held back nausea by a bare thread.

Bella, as I could see over Jasper's shoulder, was standing with only a slight wobble but with a goofy grin plastered on. "That wasn't so bad."

She buckled to land on her butt onto the soft grass.

I let go of my grip onto Jasper and he caught me in an impossibly fast spin. He looked down at me with a frown. "I could slow down a little next time." He offered.

"That'd be good." I whispered back weakly. He let me down loosely onto my feet and I held steady. The world stopped spinning enough for me to spot Emmett barreling towards us in an insane sprint.

He came to a stop a mere hairsbreadth away from my tennis shoes. "I didn't think you'd really bring them!" The large vampire bounced on his toes and I suddenly realized that he was wearing a Chicago Cub jersey.

"He said he would. I don't understand why you are confused." Rose wore a matching Cubs jersey top that fashionably contrasted designer jeans. "Give the humans some space, you're freaking them out."

Before I could reject those words, Esme and Carlisle stood beside the other couple. "Hi girls, it's nice to have some fresh faces around for a game." Esme beamed in excitement.

"Thank you for having us. I'm Bella." My sister replied before waving shyly.

If Jazz knew about Bella's abilities or anything, he'd never given any indication that he did. So maybe the Cullens assumed Bella _knew_ since I told her? As I was reassuring myself, my sister laughed at something Emmett said while Rosalie gave her a wary look.

"I love the condition you've kept that Jeep in." Bella told her earnestly.

The supermodel raised a blonde brow in surprise. She scanned my sister with new eyes. "You like cars?"

"I don't have anything near as cool to work on."

Rose's eyes sparked smugly. "If you think that's cool, wait till I show you my garage."

Jasper laughed beside me as I could struggled to keep my mouth shut. If I had said that I liked cars, it would've been that easy to get Rosalie to like me?

A tingling in my toes interrupted my pouting. "Storm's about to start." I announced just as a crack of lightening cracked furiously against the gray curtain of the sky above us.

Emmett jumped to an impressive height before bringing his fist down into the infamous superhero landing. The ground shook and Bella fell with an awkward squawk. "All right! Let's go." He snatched Jasper underneath his arm into an odd headlock while still sprinting. All of the other vampires except Esme followed.

"You're not playing?" Bella asked her. She watched along with us as Jasper slipped out of Emmett's grip playfully before grabbing his brother's arm and flipping him onto the ground.

Rosalie took to the pitching mound with confidence marking her every step. Esme watched her daughter fondly. "They're too competitive and cheat entirely too often. Which is why I'm playing ref." She confided in us, her full lips failing to repress a smile.

The teams ended up being Carlisle and Emmett versus Jasper and Rosalie. They moved so quickly that the low number of people hardly seemed to mess with the game's rules. A thought struck me as my brain adjusted to their rapid movements across the field. "What do you do when Edward is here?"

Mind-reading _had_ to be cheating.

Esme chuckled. "We just make sure that Jasper and Edward aren't on the same team. As you can imagine, it gets messy."

I frowned. "I understand why Edward has an unfair advantage, but why Jasper?" Bella nodded in agreement with me.

"Well..." Jasper's adopted mother seemed to hesitate. "He has a mind for strategy." Jazz cracked the ball to the one spot it seemed Carlisle hadn't been looking before zipping to an imaginary base.

The clouds in the gray sky rolled suddenly much, much faster and incited a strange sense of vertigo within me. I crouched, supporting my weight with my hands on my knees.

The spontaneous, dark undercurrent to the air made Bella shiver. "Something's here." Her husky voice was low and intense.

Esme looked at my sister with confusion written on her heart shaped face.

An image of sharp teeth and blood froze me to my spot. "Vampires are coming."

It was then that I could no longer see beyond pale skin and great hair. The Cullen family was surrounding us. Jasper's back was facing me while his hand clasped my wrist securely as if he needed to reassure himself that I was still there.

"I can smell them." Rosalie growled. "Why, of all the times we have lived in Forks, nomads cross our paths _now_?"

"Act natural." Jasper murmured out the words so low I could hardly hear them. "Cover the girls with your scent. Girls, breathe as little and as quietly as possible."

The semicircle collapsed and the vampires loosened their postures significantly. His hand slipped slowly over my wrist to hold my hand in a relaxed gesture. Emmett stood in front of Bella with Rose draped over him in a clearly possessive gesture that obscured my sister from sight.

 _She must smell better than me._ The thought spilled out over my terror.

"Greetings." The single word drifted out towards us in a French accent as three vampires spilled out of the trees with human speed. The leader, who led the other two in a tight V formation, had his palms up in a nonthreatening gesture. His skin was darker than any other vampire's I'd ever seen, and his hair was up in dreadlocks. On his feet were a pair of beaten up boots.

"We come in peace. My name is Laurent and theze-" His French accent peaked through as he gestured behind himself to the male and female, "are my covenmates James and Victoria."

The other two were barefoot and far more wild than their companion. The male had yellow hair, a leather jacket on, and was by far the ugliest vampire I'd ever seen. He looked as though he was ready to dart any second as he shifted his eyes from side to side. Flaming red hair and catlike movements described the female of the group.

The most striking feature that all three vampires shared were bright ruby eyes filled with fresh human blood.

Carlisle stepped forward. "My name is Carlisle Cullen, my mate Esme, and my children-Emmett, Rose, Mary, and Jasper. What brings you to these parts?" His voice was impressively calm and friendly.

"Boredom and curiosity. It is not often a coven as large as yours coexists." Laurent responded. "We came to see for ourselves."

Jasper snorted derisively beside me as his hand tightened on mine. I sucked in a breath quietly. "Why don't you tell the truth?" All eyes fell on us, but I kept my eyes on Jazz's face devoutly. "You're lying." He said flatly.

All three vampires seemed to stiffen at the sight of Jasper. "So many scars." The redhead named Victoria hissed.

The yellow haired one came forward then. It was then the body language of the nomads changed. Laurent lowered his head in deferment while Victoria pranced from foot to foot in excitement. "We came looking for prey. Prey that has evaded us for ten long years." His red eyes continued to dart around restlessly about our group. "I ask permission to hunt in your territory."

It was then that a burst of wind cut through us, carrying our scent towards James.

He lunged.

—

**Danvers, Massachusetts 1944**

Gabbi stared out the barred window of Danvers State Hospital with dull eyes. Her prediction had come true, but at great cost. She couldn't help the bitterness that washed through her even as the thudding pain went through her temples.

 _She'd just wanted the money, dammit._ It had been her sole motivation at her tent in the circus when she'd told Daniel Steven's fortune. Sure, threatening to tell the man's wife that he had been cheating on her had been blackmail on her part, but it really would've been a beneficial transaction for the both of them.

A moan cut through her throat when the pain intensified. Whatever medicine had been pushed through her veins _hurt._

But Gabbi knew that the worst was yet to come.

"Hello there." A nurse was staring down at her with glistening fangs. Her lovely round, pale face was ethereally beautiful and Gabbi couldn't help but to wonder how the vampire knew that her abilities were real.

 _Decades of servitude, stretching out into the abyss. Utter misery._ The visions stole Gabbi's eyes from the predator in front of her.

It was only when her heart stopped three days later that she found refuge.


	11. Fight

That scent. That damn scent that had controlled the last decade of Laurent's life yet he had never actually smelled wafted to him in a lackadaisical breeze. The golden-eyed ones were watching them warily, but in that moment, Laurent knew they'd have to fight their way out of this.

James had caught _her_ scent and had gone entirely mad with it. The tiny female who'd kept her eyes upturned on the tall, scarred vampire looked at them with frightened, human eyes. Her delicate throat bulged with blood that had kept Laurent's leader on the brink of insanity. The fact that the little human was currently in the possession of a powerful coven was merely an unfortunate coincidence.

Laurent hated fighting.

He watched with dread as James began his thoughtless lunge towards the group while Victoria sprang into a white and red blur trailing behind him.

Laurent, too smart to die, stayed frozen in fascination at his coven's actions. The decade of starvation and bloodlust had cultivated into a complete lack of thought or self-preservation on James' part.

The bizarrely large coven of five vampires simply watched in an unnatural calm.

Time then slowed to a crawl as Laurent witnessed a tussle of honey-blonde hair and white vampiric skin walk towards them. His arms were outstretched towards Victoria and James and his handsome face was stretched in an easy smile. He took the impact of the two bodies in a loud clap as loud as the thunder that reverberated through the misting air.

"She's not your snack or your prey." The tilted words were spoken with icy calm as the man slammed a booted foot onto James' back after a series of minimalistic movements which spoke of brutal violence and discipline. He simultaneous picked Victoria up by her gaping jaw and begun to squeeze it with a single hand.

Laurent began to back up slowly, noticing that the largest man in the enemy coven was eyeing him despite the brutal show in front of them.

James roared in an enraged gargle. His body then pulled a reservoir of power into an upward spring that threw the scarred vampire up into the air with Victoria still in his arms. The tracker then lunged towards the tiny human, who had already been hidden by a seemingly unintimidated, gorgeous blonde.

Laurent could tell that James would be able to take her out and then would probably get a single drop of that delicious human's blood before the inevitable vampiric dog-pile began.

But then Victoria's head was thrown as a projectile and it knocked James slightly to the side of his intended target.

It took mere milliseconds later for James' head to fly alongside it. The scarred monster landed with his back to Laurent, hands held to the side as if he couldn't stand to have the residual dust of the two vampires touch his clothes.

He then turned black eyes on Laurent and began a slow walk towards him. The French vampire remained frozen, his muscles bunching as he prepared for a flight that he had no hopes of winning.

"Jazz, stop!" The little, spiky-haired human cried out. Her thin, chirpy voice was difficult to hear over his terror, but it seemed to pull the strings out of the monster named 'Jazz'. He actually turned his back on the rogue even as his dust-covered hands bunched into fists.

Laurent needed no further prompting. He ran for his life.

—-

His family's shock and _her_ terror were the sole anchors keeping Jasper from further violence. He knew the last remaining vampire wasn't a threat, but damn if it wasn't difficult to not continue his rampage.

Those rogues had been so mad with bloodlust that it'd almost made Jasper lose control where he'd stood. Eliminating those two had been his only option so he could remain sane.

Because harming the Swan sisters was an impossibility at this point. They were _his_ to protect now.

"Jasper!" Mary broke gracefully away from Rosalie's protective shielding. Scared tears were running down her delicate features while she had her too-thin arms stretched out toward him. "You're all right."

She collapsed into his arms that he hadn't even realized he'd opened. He ran a featherlight touch down her back. Sobs ran into him from her for some time, his family standing an odd sentry against any threats still lingering in the woods. "You're not scared of me?"

"Of course not! That last vampire, he wasn't going to harm us right then. I just _felt_ like killing him would've been real bad. So I stopped you." Her watery words came muffled through his shirt.

Shock speared him through the chest. "But you're not scared of me?" He repeated his question dumbly.

His incredulous tone matched his family's emotions. They too had thought that they would have to deal with two very frightened and disgusted humans instead of the one that was seeking comfort from him. Though he wasn't sure about the state of her sister.

An unladylike snort from behind Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme answered his question. They cleared to show a very calm Bella with her arms crossed. "She kept seeing our damn throats torn out by those vamps for some time. Not to mention I kept having to see the ghosts of their victims." She jerked her thumb towards herself in an aggravated gesture.

 _Ghosts...?_ Jasper had had his suspicions, but her words confirmed it. Mary tensed and peaked her eyes over his arms to gauge his family's reaction.

Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie turned into shocked statues while Emmett collapsed to the grass in a ground shaking flop. "I'm so confused right now!" He clutched his head as he laughed. "Did your mother dip you two in a vat of radioactive sludge when you were babies or something?"

Bella's eyebrows rose up into her hair. "I don't know. But aren't you guys worried about this?" She gestured to the two granite bodies several feet away from her.

Rosalie snapped back into action. "I've got this." She flicked open a hot-pink cigarette lighter with a well-manicured hand and began to walk towards the remains.

This seemed to alert Jasper's foster 'parents' into motion as well. "The girls shouldn't have to see this." Esme's beautiful voice held a faint tremor. She was scared and concerned, far more than anyone else due to her nature.

"Yes." Carlisle agreed with his mate. "Emmett, help Rosalie. The rest of us will head home as a group." His mouth twisted sadly as he looked at the two nomads. "What a shame."

Jasper bit back a scathing response at the disappointment in the doctor's voice. What was he supposed to do? _Let_ nomads kill innocent humans right in front of them?

Shoving his irritation into a dark crevice of his psyche, he refocused his attention on their guests. Carefully, he guided his girl, who was clinging to him like he might disappear, to her sister. Mary then transferred from his arms into Bella's which seemed to nullify the little monster's need to make sure her sister was okay. The three of them began the trudge at human-pace towards the Jeep with Carlisle and Esme following behind them.

The wariness and slight disgust coming from Carlisle continued to eat away at Jasper's patience, and he wondered about Carlisle's reaction if he knew about the human rapists Jasper had eliminated the night before. His leader would never see eye to eye with him about violence and the necessity of it. Rosalie was the only one in the family who understood his position, and occasionally covered for him if the family just ignored "mortal" issues.

No, while Jasper no longer sought out human criminals to judge and execute, he refused to let them get away with harming the innocents if he was aware of the situation. His greatest wish was that an angel would've ended him when he was a destroyer of innocents. Then perhaps a few of those tortured souls could've found the light past Maria's control as Peter, Charlotte, and he had.

As he looked down at Mary and Bella, he couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to understand his darkness. And the hell and bodies that he would walk over in order to keep them in his life.

_With their abilities, the declaration seemed more prophetic than figurative._

If the Volturi ever heard of their existence, Jasper didn't want to know what he would become to save the two of them. Because Mary had become the most important person in the world to him in the short month he'd known her, and Bella had quickly become as important as any member of his coven.

He just had to make sure the damn vampire police stayed ignorant.

—

I slammed my body onto the kitchen chair that Esme had graciously offered me. My heart was still pounding from witnessing the fight, and my head was reeling from the overflow of visions that it was trying to provide itself with. It was as if my fight-or-flight response was tied to my abilities, like my body thought that it needed to know absolutely _everything_ so that it could survive.

It was awfully annoying and also rendered my ability to process utterly useless. Bella, ever the joy of my life, watched my hard breathing and sweaty body with amused eyes.

"Maybe now you know how I feel about planes." She smirked at me before popping a grape into her mouth. Esme was fluttering around the kitchen at mock 10, obviously excited to have a reason to use her elegantly designed kitchen.

Seventeen years of mocking Bella for her phobias all culminated to a burn in my cheeks. "I'm sorry, sis."

She waved a dismissive hand. "Just feel better so that we can celebrate no longer having our deaths hanging over our heads. As soon as Jasper ended them, all those ghosts went peacefully." Her permanently shadowed eyes traced up towards the ceiling, as if recalling the event brought _her_ peace too.

"Yeah?" I closed my eyes with the sudden memory of Jasper killing those vamps. I fought off the threatening visions and just concentrated on that.

It should've disgusted me that he ended the lives of two sentient beings so easily. But it didn't. Between my visions and Bella's ghosts, I finally reconciled that my Jazz was simply protecting us, which happened to contribute to the greater good. He wasn't bad, but he was by no means a saint either.

And that, I could accept.

The panic and visions ceased by the time Bella and I finally convinced Esme that we'd had enough to eat. Jasper returned to the kitchen with his siblings beside him.

All of his siblings.

"Are you two all right?" Edward asked. His eyes were entirely fixated on Bella, which made it abundantly clear that he didn't care about me all that much.

Bella scowled darkly at his gaze. It seemed like near-death experiences gave her a spike of self-confidence whereas they made me bitch up. "Stop staring at me like that."

"Like what?" Edward looked genuinely confused.

Rosalie conked him on the head. "Like you want to make a happy meal out of her."

"So you see the dead?" Edward continued to stare at her. He ignored his sister's words.

My sister's left eye twitched. "I can also summon the dead and make them do whatever I want. So stop being so fucking creepy unless you want some dead hooker zombies in your room."

The stalker's eyes bulged in shock and then he was gone.

Silence hit. Bella blushed as all eyes focused on her. All the Cullens looked scared except for Jasper. His mouth twitched. He began to laugh just as I did. Emmett joined in once he realized it was probably a joke.

Rosalie tilted her head curiously. "You can't summon the dead, can you?"

She tilted her shoulders nonchalantly. "I've never tried." As her sister, I knew I was the only one who could hear the tiny tremor of terror in her voice.

—

Lauren Mallory glared at the blandness that was her new room. Of course flipping Forks still had an old-fashioned insane asylum that they were just dying to use. For a single incident of losing her mind, Lauren had to do a whole damn week here. They couldn't had just taken her to a normal medical hospital for a night like a normal town, _nooo_. They just had to justify the existence of the underused asylum.

 _It wasn't even her fault!_ That Swan freak had done something to her. She no longer remembered what, but that knowledge was now embedded into her bones. So now here she was, on a Saturday afternoon, _in a looney bin_!

As Lauren stared out through iron bars at the gray, thundering sky, she swore she'd get Bella Swan to spend a much longer time in this room.


	12. Dancing Around the Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Two girls kiss in this chapter, if it bothers you then don't read

"What do you mean 'Lauren is in the nuthouse'?" I threw my hands up to quote Angela and she stepped back from my aggressive questioning. Her long frame tripped over a forgotten book on the floor which sent her into an awkward landing onto a sprawled Bella.

Bella humphed from her crush's weight and shot me a 'what the hell' look.

"Sorry Bells." Angela said sweetly before readjusting herself to sit beside her. Bella shrugged before pressing her face promptly back into the mattress, no doubt punishing herself for Lauren being committed.

It wasn't like she didn't deserve it. The girl had seemed plenty psycho to me.

"Do you know how long she'll be out of commission for?"

"Just a week. My grandparent's own the asylum so that detail wasn't so hard to figure all this out." Angela sighed while drumming elegant fingers impatiently on the bed frame.

"Your grandparents own an insane asylum?" I asked incredulously.

"It's the biggest and oldest still-standing building in Fork's history. Unfortunately Forks never got the memo that insane asylums are outdated and have bad mojo. They just call it mental hospital to feel better about it." Angela's demeanor was of someone entirely separated from the issue, although there was the barest thread of disapproval shadowing her words.

I tilted my head at her. "It's a little weird you have such a clear perspective about it since it's your family's."

She laughed a laugh that made Bella lift her head to watch. "My maternal and paternal grandparents hate each other. So I hear all kinds of interesting gossip that I can take with a grain of salt."

"Well hopefully Lauren comes back a bit nicer." I huffed. Seeing that my sister was done sulking, I left the room to give the love birds time to 'study'. Although they were such nerds that I'm almost certain that's what they'd be mostly doing anyway.

After having spent all of Sunday with Charlie, we had returned to school with all of the usual enthusiasm. The stares and gossip had gotten worse since Lauren had disappeared, not that anybody but Angela had the grace to tell us why. It was made even worse once I realized that the Sun was going to be out for two agonizingly long days so seeing the Cullens was not an option. And most unfortunately, the dance was approaching.

Normally, I would've already found/designed outfits for the event, then I would've accepted the most platonic possible date to spend the evening with whilst dragging Bella as my plus one. It was normally a great way to both make Bella leave the house and to see some fashion.

But Forks had a way of busting all of my potential fun to a million pieces. First off, Jazz was in no way a platonic date. Second off, although he'd expressed his interest in me over the insane weekend, we weren't quite explicitly boyfriend-girlfriend status like I would've liked. And something told me he would not appreciate being verbally prompted to take me to the damn dance.

 _Oh please_. My inner voice snarked at me in an infamously bratty tone. _He killed for you. Why the hell wouldn't he take you to the dance?_

I resolved to plan the outfits since there was a very slim chance that things wouldn't go my way.

It later turned out that the dance would give me a bigger headache than intended when it became obvious that Fork boys were a different breed of stupid. Particularly on the day that the sun decided to hide again.

"What?" I blinked up at the boy who'd introduced himself as Mike Newton. "Why would I do that?"

"Could you please just figure out whether or not your sister would go to the dance with me? As a favor?"

"I don't need a favor. How about you just ask her yourself?" I said the words dutifully and lazily, even though it was obvious to me that that particular mission was an exercise of futility.

Mike looked down at the floor. "She's kind of scary." He whispered lowly.

I squinted at him. "Then why do you want to dance with her?"

He shrugged so I tossed my hands up and left the conversation. _What an idiot._ As I was stomping away, someone called my name. He was gangly and had a camera bag strapped over his chest which made him easy to identify as Eric, the sole student behind the school newspaper.

How anyone wrote five columns a week by himself was beyond me.

"Do you have a date to the dance yet?" He asked quickly. His dark eyes darted around nervously around the hallway as if looking at me would turn him to stone.

I frowned at him. "Is this a newspaper question or a personal one?"

A sheepish look crossed his face. "Kinda both. I compile a list of girls without dates every year and my deadline to publish is tomorrow." A cunning gleam smile crossed his face once he saw me pale considerably. "So what do you say about going with me?"

My jaw popped open. He was openly blackmailing me? Also, what kind of school has a newspaper like _that_? Just as I began to open my mouth to turn him down, a muscular arm shot out and pressed me against the side of a long, hard body.

"Sorry, she would, but she's going with me." Jasper sounded genuinely happy, but also a little amused. As I craned my neck to look up at him, I realized that he somehow pulled off not looking like a total dick towards newspaper boy. His handsome face was stretched in a good-natured grin.

"Oh." Eric shrugged. "Well, sorry to bug you, Mary. Maybe next year?" He walked off without looking the least bit put off.

My mouth popped open as Jazz slowly disentangled from me. He looked a little...strange. Almost embarrassed. "That's what you want, right? To go to the dance?"

"Aren't you an empath?" I answered dumbly. The places where he'd touched me previously tingled and a weird warmth spread through me.

"Your emotions skitter everywhere all of the time so not really. Like you went from angry to happy to confused and now you're hungry and it's only been," Jasper's eyes flicked up in a rare show of concentration, "fifteen seconds."

"Yeah, I'd love to go to the dance with you. As long as I can get you to dance." The idea of him not getting up and having a good time seemed likely.

"Make it every other song and you have yourself a deal." He absently grabbed my hand and we began to walk towards the lunchroom. He seemed to know the exact speed I wanted to walk, yet he somehow matched my hyper bounce with his languid stroll. Once we were through the bland double doors, the noise began to racket up as people saw our hands.

"Are you excited to graduate high school, Mary?" Jasper murmured in a low voice just loud enough for my hearing. He steered us towards his family's table while simultaneously catching Bella's attention with a jerk of his head.

My sister left our loner table in a cheerful, yet clumsy hurry that made a grin crack through my face. "It would certainly make things easier. I don't really like school all that much."

"If I didn't like my family so much, I'd certainly wouldn't agree to go to high school every twenty years." He shuddered. "College is so much better."

I wrinkled my nose at that. "Ew. I would rather just make clothes."

Jasper threw his head back and laughed. That laugh tumbled into a future where crates upon crates of fabric were presented to me and a group of students. A fabulously dressed man nearly identical to Andy Dick had his hip cocked as he lectured on about a project we would get to do. Fashion school.

That would certainly be a way to get everyone off my back about college.

"What's got that look on your face?" Rosalie asked as the three of us all sat down. I was practically buzzing with energy at the idea of my future plans.

"She probably just saw how the world ends." Bella joked dryly as she shot a fairly aggressive glare Edward's way. He quickly got up and walked away, clearly still unsettled by her threat of hooker zombies.

I rolled my eyes. "That changes all the time. The only thing that stays the same about Doomsday is-"

A cool, large hand went over my mouth. "I might be undead, darlin', but even _I_ don't want to know that." Jazz grinned down at me.

Lunch passed quickly and the rest of the day flew by in average oblivion. People were finally beginning to warm up a little to me, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was because Queen Bee Lauren was in the nuthouse.

 _Being queen bee wouldn't be such a bad thing._ My evil warrior bitch alter-ego whispered to me. I briefly considered her words, as taking over a school was in my repertoire of skills. It was often how I passed time and tried to make things a little better for Bella.

 _But then you won't have as much time for Jazz!_ My crazy girlfriend alter-ego interjected.

A dumb, dreamy smile crossed my face as a decision was made. One of the guys in my biology class shuddered at the sight.

Time floated by and I mindlessly walked to our truck in the parking lot. Angela and Bella were both talking and neither spared a glance my way while their voices rose.

"No, I _refuse_ to believe you haven't seen a single episode of anime!" Bell's voice grew uncharacteristically passionate as she stared up heatedly up at the taller girl. It was like she was accusing the other girl of cheating.

Angela blanched at her. "What even _is_ anime?" She sounded frustrated and confused at the topic and why my sister was acting like a lunatic.

Bella hid her face in her hands and groaned. "No, no, no! I _knew_ you were too good to be real..."

I backed away slowly from that situation and then practically ran to the Cullens' Volvo. Jasper was leaning against the car talking to Emmett while Rose stared at her nails in obvious boredom. "Can I get a ride home?"

Emmett shot me a devious look. "If you tell me who is going to win the game tonight, then you can."

Dollar signs seemed to take over his butterscotch eyes for a second before Rose hit him upside the head while still inspecting her nails. "Ow!"

I took a slow step back before being neatly shuffled into the back of the car by a still distracted Rose. Jazz hopped into the driver's seat while Emmett began to fiddle with the radio with an obvious sense of glee.

"Thank god, your sister scared Eddie off today!" Rose muttered beside me. "We can finally listen to something other than NPR and his classical piano CDs." Hard rock began blaring through the car and I watched in astonishment as the blonde bombshell closed her eyes and began bopping her head like a total metal head.

Jazz's eyes met mine through the mirror and I could swear he was laughing at me.

The ride was going smoothly even as Emmett's booming voice clashed with the harsh music. He couldn't keep on tune to save his life, but it still failed to harsh Rosalie's vibe. The cheerful mood in the truck totally went against the constant pour of rain which helped me close my eyes.

_" Mary Alice...!" Scared, bright ruby eyes peered into mine as the world kept spinning on. I could hardly lift my hand from the ground. She was crying. Streaks of blood smeared down her beautiful face in a terrible imitation of what I'd seen so many times before. "I **can't** fix you!" She screeched at me as she helplessly clutched at me._

_"Quit bleeding, please. You smell **so** good." She bit her hand as a sob wracked her chest. The skin cracked where her sharpened canine pressed down._

_Black spotted my vision and I still strained to get my hand to her cheek. "Bella, find Jasper-"_

I gasped awake, tears streaming down my cheeks. Jerking my thumb to catch a tear, it was a relief to see that it wasn't blood. It took a moment to notice the three vampires staring at me. We were no longer moving and the rock music still pumped around us hollowly.

"What did you see?" Jasper asked and I couldn't help but notice that his jaw was set and his eyes were hard. Like he was majorly pissed at whatever had made me cry.

"There's a tiny, itsbitsy chance Bella is going to be a vampire?" I wasn't entirely sure why I phrased it so guiltily.

"Oh hell yeah!" Emmett howled while tossing his hands up like he was on a rollercoaster.

Jasper was the one to hit him this time.

—

Bella kissed Angela's lips gently while on her tiptoes once they finally arrived in the privacy of her room. The girl moaned sweetly and wrapped her hands into Bella's hair while deepening the contact.

Bella shuddered in gratitude. It'd been annoying to wait for Angela's dad to drop her off, but getting to 'study' was so worth it as her hand wandered lower and lower. She chickened out once she got to the swell of Angela's hip. It was probably too fast for how shy she was.

This girl was so special. Even if she was so woefully ignorant about the joys of anime.

She flinched at the direction of her own thoughts. _Stop cockblocking yourself. You can educate her later._ Bella then focused on the amazing task at hand.

Angela broke from their embrace with a gasp. "Bella-!" Her long fingers still clutched at the shorter girl's long, chocolate, silky strands, but suddenly there was a different kind of tension threading through them.

She didn't catch onto the fear in Angela's voice and went on to kiss her long neck in a sort of worship. "Yeah, babe?"

"Th-there was a man watching us through the window!"

 _Motherfucking ginger._ Bella bit back an annoyed groan. She resolved to kill him as she spent the next hour trying to convince a terrified Angela that a Peeping Tom wouldn't dare snitch them out to her father.


	13. Ginger Vamp Scrambled

Edward ran as fast as he could, dodging trees until he was sure that nobody would hear the crack of his body smashing into a great oak. It splintered in a tremendous crack of fury that sent him hurtling into another tree. He couldn't stop the growls reverberating throughout his entire body.

How dare she?! The little witch was so against him that she wanted another _woman_ instead? Bile built up in his throat in repulsion and the angry vampire could hardly control his fists as he pounded them into the soil. It only served to piss him off worse when he realized just how incredibly thirsty he was.

He'd finally found someone who sang to his body the way he wished, whose innocent face made him _want_. Someone who could finally put to rest his hundred years of abstinence.

He would've moved mountains for her if she had just said the word.

His ears rang at the thought that the beautiful necromancer believed an inconsequential high schooler could meet her needs better than him. It was only when the ringing stopped that the thoughts of two vampires right beside him became evident. He spun around at the threat in surprise.

"I told you we'd find him here, Mistress!" A blonde vampire nearly screamed at delight. She was hanging upside down from a branch like some deranged monkey.

"Good girl, Gabi. Now get down here and tell your Mistress how this bastard will fight back." A tiny, dark-haired woman emerged from behind the trees.

While Gabi's thoughts rang long and clear to Edward, this one kept a careful discipline over her own that made his spine straighten. Her round face and full lips rang an odd, distant bell.

_She looked horribly familiar..._

But it was all Edward could do to avoid her claws near his eyes. He had never had this hard of a time with an opponent with the sole exception of Jasper. The warnings that normally came so clearly to him were obscured and it took a second to realize that Gabi was whispering instructions to his attacker. He made the fatal mistake of listening.

"He's hesitating. _Now_!" The girl said quickly, her words blurring with speed.

The other girl striked and suddenly Edward Cullen was completely immobilized.

His limbs were torn off unceremoniously and before he knew it, he was being carried away far from Forks in two separate burlap sacks.

—

"Jasper, what are we going to do?" I couldn't keep the fear from my voice. Jazz had taken me to the Cullens' house after the vision and now was pacing back and forth.

He made nearly three full trips around the perimeter of his tidy, book-filled room before he finally froze to face me.

"How accurate are your visions?" He asked.

I shrugged helplessly at Jazz as the silence stretched taut between us. Light suddenly filtered through his wall-length window which made him sparkle like an odd disco ball. It wasn't hard to see his lip curl in slight disgust at the phenomena.

My dreams told me so much about him, yet his self-disgust wasn't on that list. I couldn't help crossing the room and wrapping my arms around him. "I think it's cute. In a weird way."

His cool breath brushed my face as he huffed out a startled laugh. "Only you would ever say that. " He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know how to save her."

I could hear how much he hated that. The same hopelessness coursed through me for several minutes even as Jazz planted a distracted kiss on my head and restarted his pacing. The place where his lips touched burned but gave me a jolt of inspiration. "Eureka! Bell's hair was short!" I squealed.

"So?"

"So we have a canary for when Bella goes batty, right?"

Jasper smirked. "Maybe. Let's just stick to that and look out for her the best we can then." The shining sun continued to make him look silly.

The odd vulnerability of the scene made me feel guilty for not telling him about the me kinda dying part, but hey Bella and my deaths always were predestined nowadays.

The guilt make me look away from him and around at his room. Civil war artifacts were scattered around his study and it made me appreciate that I still didn't know a whole lot about him. Sure, him as a soldier had paraded through my dreams, but that was about it. "Tell me about how you were Made."

He stiffened with his back to me. "Could we not for awhile?" The question came out strained and almost scared.

I blinked at him. "Why not?"

Jasper's tall, muscled frame slowly turned around until I saw that his face was closed in a rolling darkness. He walked until I could feel every hard inch of him and I had to look up to see his eyes. His hand gently cupped my face and caressed my cheek.

It was all I could do to sigh into him and not purr.

"I'm not a good man, Mary Alice. I don't deserve this family or you. The moment you looked at me, if I was worth a damn or capable of redemption, I should've left. Given you a chance at something normal and decent and right." As he spoke, he made me look directly at him.

I tried really hard not to look inconsiderate of his words. It sucked he didn't see the state of things like I did. "Baby, you do know I would've been James' lunch without you right? Me and Bella both?"

He had the audacity to look shocked at my words.

"You're not a bad man, Jasper. You're not a good man either. You're mine." And with that, I shook off his hands and jumped on him like a monkey.

Now, when you're well under 5'0", athletic, and want to spring a kiss on very tall guy, this is the way to do it. I wrapped my legs around his waist and then grabbed his shoulders to get up there, but it turned out that all that work wasn't necessary. Jazz reacted quickly as if his vampiric speed made him too impatient for my surprise attack.

His large hands cupped my thighs and bolstered me the rest of the way up. His lips crushed against mine and if I'd thought any control would be handed my way, boy was I wrong. Jazz led every one of our movements in absolute perfection even as I tried my damndest to get control back. It was only when I bit his lip that a small growl rang from his body to mine and he set me down extremely fast.

His chest heaved in unnecessary, uneven spurts even as he looked at me as if _I_ were the dangerous one. "Don't bite." He demanded while he poked my nose playfully.

My eyebrows rose even as I drew in a huff of air. "Or what?"

The mood died a smooth death. "I don't trust my teeth on you." He hugged me close in an obvious attempt to make sure I was still there. "You're so small and delicate compared to me."

I leaned back in his arms and gave him a clearly dispassionate look. "Do _not_ say that. I hate being called those things." Years of training my body to be more than it looked made me extremely sensitive to those demeaning descriptors.

Even if they were true in comparison to a vampire. He did not have to point it out.

Jasper took a step back with a surprised expression as I shrugged his hold off of me. I stomped out of the room. "If I wanted to be treated this way, I would've fallen for _Edward_ instead!"

It wasn't hard to hear Jasper's angry growl even with my pathetically weak human ears.

—-

Rosalie dropped me off at home with an indulgent laugh when I muttered a bare 'thank you' her way. It seemed seeing one of my rare temper tantrums made her very happy. She sped off in a near spin that almost perfectly imitated a Fast and the Furious movie.

It just made me even angrier.

"Stupid gorgeous, _tall_ vampire." I muttered as I fought the door lock. It popped open.

"Holy fuck!" The curse was out of my mouth before I'd even processed what I was seeing.

Bella was on her knees. Painting Angela's nails in the kitchen. After I blinked a few times at the couple staring at me inquisitively, I waved my hands dismissively. "Ignore me, I'm an idiot." I stormed passed them to the fridge and grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper.

My sister eyed me with practiced wariness. "He pissed you off, didn't he?"

I didn't answer while I continued chugging the soda.

"Was it one of the trigger words?" Bella ventured while a grin began to plaster onto her dumb face while Angela continued to look mystified.

"Both." I smashed the remains of my can and tossed it into the trash can.

"In this particular case, he _might_ have a point."

"Shut up."

—

Jasper stood very still in his room because he was still confused. _What had he done?_

She'd been so blindingly mad at him. It'd been awhile since anybody had felt that way about him. Apparently being small was a sore point for her?

"Bro?" Emmett's gigantic head peeked through the crack of his room's door. The confusion mixed with amusement on his face was easy enough to see without Jasper's damn empathy. "Why'd Tiny have my wife drive her home? Without telling me who'd win tonight?"

"I don't know what I did." Jasper told him in exasperation. The Edward comment she had made still swam in his head and made him nearly sick with with rage.

Emmett shrugged. "Just stay low and apologize when she comes back. Don't worry about it."

"But I don't know what I did!"

His adopted brother looked at him like _he_ was the stupid one. "It doesn't matter. Her feelings are hurt, aren't they? This kind of shit is just silly, day-to-day relationship stuff. Life gets boring without it. Soon you'll laugh when she blows up on you for something so stupid."

Jasper wasn't so sure about that last part, but he thought deeply about his family's relationships around him. It was true. Even Carlisle and Esme got pissed at one another at least once a month. Rosalie and Em were far more... volatile than that, but he supposed the same general rules applied.

"How the hell did you get so all-knowing?" He couldn't help but tease his brother.

"Eighty years of a blissful marriage." Emmett snickered.

Jasper felt way better and agreed to watch the game with Emmett after that. It was only when the night had passed and the morning lit the world up that he realized that his other brother was missing again.

—

"Do I _have_ to continue carrying him, Mistress?"

They had nearly reached their hidden car, but the question still caused Maria's eye to twitch with utter impatience. They needed to reach the warehouse that Maria had rented a couple of cities away from Port Angeles for the interrogation to begin.

She just needed a little more dirt on the Cullens before making her move on her Jasper. She'd made a mistake. As she'd learned in her hundred years of running from the Volturi, she very much needed her second-hand man in her life. She hadn't known that there'd been more than fear to make a man loyal all those years ago.

Through Jasper's new connection to the vegetarian coven, she now knew that the man was capable of the trust and loyality she'd instill in him. Maria clicked the key fob in her pocket and heard the satisfying sound of gears unlocking. She gestured Gabi to throw their valuable load into the trunk. She then gunned it as fast from Forks as she could.

It'd do no good if Jasper were to catch her now. When she was kidnapping his covenmate. Though she'd love to see him. Despite never lacking male attention, all that she had found paled in comparison to Jasper. He'd been...

 _Keep on task._ Maria found the discipline that made her such a great dictator and masked it around herself. Her Jasper would be hard to manipulate this time around with all of the years of vampirism that had passed with them apart. It got her horny just thinking about it.

 _Damn it._ The eternal battle between lust and logic waged on even as Gabi turned on the radio and began singing extremely out of tune. How did a vampire accomplish _that_?

Several hours passed before they finally reached the safe location. Gabi gathered the burlap sacks as Maria strode purposefully into the warehouse.

Three pairs of bright red, newborn eyes all skittered to her petite form. She smiled. "Hi darlings, how'd the evening go for all of you?"

They spoke, while Maria absentmindedly nodded her head. She'd learned from her mistakes; a newborn army was a no-no. However, no one ever said anything against keeping a few pets and switching every six months or so. They had their uses in keeping the Volturi distracted through their great human death tolls.

She simply didn't teach them the rules.

"Gabi." She interrupted whatever the red-headed newborn was saying. "Give our darlings the goodies."

Gabi dumped the burlap sacks to the ground in relief since Jasper's covenmate had never actually stopped making noise since they'd dismantled him. The newborns poked at the bag curiously.

"Now darlings," Maria smiled sharply, "I have an arts and crafts job for you."

She needed Humpty-Dumpty back together for the interrogation to begin.


	14. Tempers and Rose Sensei

Leah Clearwater hummed to herself pretty happily as she broke into Sam Uley's house. She took the power tool she'd stolen from her dad and was quite simply _pulverizing_ the lock. She couldn't wait to see his face when he realized what she'd done.

She had already bought an identical handle to replace the damaged one with; he would laugh his ass off and they'd have the best birthday party ever.

The pranks of their relationship had been escalating for awhile. Last year, Sam had pretended that her pet snake had escaped when in reality she'd been strategically placed in her extra habitat at Sam's house. A then identical rubber snake had been dropped onto Leah while she showered by Sue Clearwater.

He was so perfect that he had somehow gotten _her mother_ , the most serious woman Leah knew on this Earth, to help prank her. If she hadn't already been madly in love with him, then that birthday would've tipped the scale in his favor.

The handle cracked open, and the tall, shapely Native girl stepped over the threshold with glee. She quickly grabbed the three grocery bags she'd brought with her to decorate and display his presents. It was fast and fun work, any minute Sam would be back from his construction job-

A low, female moan cut through the air from Sam's closed bedroom. Leah froze.

 _What the hell?_ Her brain didn't quite understand the noise, didn't compute the impossibility of a woman other than her in Sam's bedroom.

This time, the moan was a helluva lot louder.

She moved quietly while her already bruised heart pounded in her chest. Each step felt like an incremental shuffle to an impossible reality. Rage began to boil so hot that the bedroom door seemed to kick itself in. And it became obvious from all of the nude flesh and human limbs scrambling from surprise and Sam's dark, beautiful eyes that she wasn't wrong.

The son of a bitch had ruined his own birthday party.

"Leah!" He sent one of his heavily toned limbs to cover the other woman.

But he did it way too late. Her familiar eyes and face that looked vaguely similar to her own gave it all away. "Emily?" Leah's voice came out small, weaker than it ever had before.

What she did next ashamed her. She ran to her car and got out of there. Like _she_ was the one who'd done wrong. She peeled through the streets of LaPush, in no mindset to drive, while shaking like some heroin addict going cold turkey. But through some act of divinity, her car stopped moving once she was reduced a wailing, grief-stricken creature.

It might've been an overreaction on her part, but six years of her life were suddenly gone. _Her love was gone_. Emily, one of the most important people in the world to her, had betrayed her. She couldn't bridge it together in words so the wailing was all that could be done to vocalize her heartbreak and anger and confusion.

This continued for fifteen seconds before Leah Clearwater's world imploded. Her muscles ripped apart and reformed in a flash of agonizing pain while she was dumb enough to grip her steering wheel in some wordless plea for mercy. The leather shredded as her claws erupted from her knuckles. She blacked out and then a graceful, grey wolf broke through the car window in a shattering, glinting rain.

_The wolf ran for a long time._

—

Bella and I sat side by side listening as Charlie spoke on the phone to an anguished Harry Clearwater.

"Where's the car at?" Dad was already shrugging into his heavy-duty jacket and holster one-handed. His eyes went over the pair of us and by the twist of his mouth, it wasn't difficult to see that he was putting himself in Harry's shoes. "I'll find her, Harry."

He walked quickly out of the door.

"You think she's all right?" Bella asked, her doe eyes filled with some unknown emotion. While she'd gotten more along with Jake when we were kids, Leah had been my friend.

I shrugged. "No clue. The abandoned car seems pretty serious." A pause between us before an old thought crossed my mind. "Do... you ever think that maybe we should use our gifts for more?"

She snorted derisively. "By 'more', do you mean me telling people that their dead relatives haven't found peace and you telling them a future that can't be helped?"

A well of determination filled me when I thought of my endeavor to make sure Bella didn't turn into a vampire. "Real optimistic, Bella. What if we could _help_ find Leah?"

Silence followed for few minutes. "Where would we start?"

Dad wouldn't allow us near the missing car nor could we inconspicuously visit LaPush without the entire tribe snitching on us to our father. But our gifts weren't so easily directed by location, in fact they were completely impossible to control and unpredictable. A sudden memory of Carlisle demanding Jasper to tune down his empathy hit me.

Edward and Jasper had _control_ of their gifts.

I stood up giddily. "We need a training montage! I'll call Jazz!"

Bella groaned, but it wasn't difficult to tell that she'd follow my plan. She always did.

My heart thundered at the sudden resolution filling my soul. _We are going to gain control of our powers and I'm going to save Bella._ It was a direction, a path to finally stop getting so pissed at a future that I could never control.

—-

Jazz strode into the house with a frown and hands strictly on his whip lean waist. "There are certainly no kitties stuck in a tree around here."

"I lied." He looked at me slightly weird and then I remembered that I'd thrown a major fit the last time that we had been together. I raised my hands in peace. "I overreacted yesterday so I'm sorry I bit your head off."

He rolled his eyes. "Already forgotten." He plopped on the couch with a very human flourish. "What can I do for you ladies?"

Bella patted him on his head affectionately. "Prepare to be confused." I shot her a glare and she did not cave so much as a single inch as she spoke her mind. "He won't have a _clue_ about how to help us."

"Help with what?" Jasper asked.

"To control our gifts?" It was difficult to keep the hope out of my voice.

Silence stretched for awhile before Jasper spoke. "I can try my best. There isn't an exact science since this kind of stuff is always very individual." He stared at his hands like they could possibly have an answer that he didn't. "Do you two have any obvious triggers?"

"Antiques." Bella murmured. "Rage. And being around a shit ton of people never helps."

"That sounds workable." Jazz kept looking at his hands. "Mary?"

I opened my mouth. Then shut it. My gift had only gotten stronger recently, and it still was nowhere as strong as Bella's. It was hard to tell.

"Whenever she's stressed. Or _not_ hyper." Bella piped up.

"How-" I began in surprise.

"It's happened our whole lives. Of course I'd take note." She shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal that she knew more about me than _I_ did. "Think about when Jasper killed those vamps, you were so strung out that you had to hang on to me to walk straight."

"Hmm." Jazz eyed me in a different kind of way from before. Like he was assessing something that could only be seen by him.

 _He's good with people._ I reminded myself.

"Bella, your gift is always on then? You just need the ghosts around to see them? And Mary here isn't so simple. Which is good because it seems like the visions immobilize her temporarily."

"That sums it up, cowboy." She agreed easily. "So I guess my control would be being able to filter the noise while Mary's would be figuring out how to turn her visions on and focusing it into something more _directed_ rather than random."

They were so in tune and deep in thought that they didn't notice me slap my own forehead in exasperation. How was it that both my boyfriend and my sister were so smart? I couldn't even figure out my own triggers.

"Unfortunately, I think I'm better geared at helping Bella than you, Mary, since my gift is always on and so is Edward's." Jazz sighed. He caught my crestfallen expression and quickly added, "That does not mean we will not try. Just that your gift will probably be a little trickier."

"Okay." I gave him a smile, still excited that we would at least give it a try.

The next few hours were fun. Jasper took us to his house and enlisted the help of his family. He explained the situation to Carlisle and then handed him off to me while he was going to show some of his 'old stuff' to Bella. And that's how I figured out Carlisle and Esme's idea on how to get me stressed out.

"There are people out there that can control their adrenaline. That might be easier than trying to get you calm." Carlisle commented as he watched me bounce my knee with amusement. "Esme! You still have the bungee jumping equipment from our last honeymoon?!" He shouted.

 _He sounds so **old** when he hollers like that._ I flinched at the unexpected volume.

"WHAT?" Esme screeched back. I shrank back into my chair when my eardrums almost burst.

Carlisle had just opened his mouth to reply when Rosalie stomped into the room. "You guys shouting in her ear is not going to stress her out enough to trigger her visions!" She lifted me up by my waist, scrumptiously keeping my skin as far from her own as possible, and carried me out of the room into an artfully styled bedroom with death metal posters lining the walls.

She sat me down on the bed and glared at me. "Calming your hyper ass down will be _way_ easier than stressing you out." She blew long, blonde strands of hair out of her eyes in irritation as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Wait here."

She sped in and out in a blink of the eye and laid a yoga mat down. "Close your eyes, little girl."

My eyebrow twitched at the nickname, but I obeyed the instruction nonetheless. "Now what?"

"Now nothing. Just breathe normally and keep your mind clear. Focus on nothing but your body."

I sat there for a long time, trying my best to clear my head and to just be still. Slowly, lackadaisical, fuzzy images floated through my brain in a fashion that almost seemed like my imagination. But suddenly a fly landed on my nose and I had _no_ choice but to wiggle it

to rid of the tiny pest.

All of the images vanished.

"You lasted ten seconds." Rose kept her voice surprisingly neutral. "Keep practicing by yourself and you'll be able to get there faster."

"How do you know I saw anything?" Rosalie held out her manicured hand and I took it while she hauled me to my feet.

"Your eyes cross and you stick your tongue out like a dog."

I narrowed my eyes at her but she maintained a perfectly straight face.

—-

Lauren could've sworn that she saw a massive grey wolf streak across the lawn through her window. _Okay maybe I **am** going crazy._

Excitement was difficult to repress since she was going to be released today. No cell phone and tons of therapy sessions had made for a very long week, and Lauren was close to _begging_ the doctors to let her go back to high school.

She had some very precise plans involving Mary and her sister. Mostly some made up shit about prostituting their way through Phoenix, Arizona that Lauren had heard from a _very_ reliable friend. She'd go gently with the rumor at first, making sure that the school slowly changed their tune for the worst.

A shiver of fear went through her at the thought of Bella getting her hands on her again, but as long as Lauren played her cards right then that wouldn't happen.

Lauren's parents arrived ten minutes past noon, fussed accordingly over her, and drove her back to the three-story home that had made her the queen of sleepovers as she'd gone through the public school system. It felt amazing to finally plop onto her king-sized princess styled bed. Her back had ached from that damn box-spring monstrosity of a twin mattress at the asylum.

Night crept quickly into the room and she chose to remain conscious while staring at the ceiling. She'd have to get to work on her delicately laid-out plans-

A white hand shot over her bed and planted firmly onto the girl's mouth. She only managed to get a weak _eep_ to echo through the air. "Be quiet, girl." A haughty female voice commanded her.

A beautiful female with terrifying eyes peered down at her and smiled a terrible smile once Lauren realized that the hold on her face was impenetrable. "You, from the mindreader's account, are my best shot at peacefully getting what's mine. You have a lot to gain here too, girl. _Blink if you understand_."

Lauren Mallory did the only thing she could and blinked.


	15. The Big Bad Wolf

Bella blinked her eyes and woke up in a slow daze. Her head pounded from staying up so late from watching _Dr. Stone_ , and she was relieved when she saw she'd actually gotten up before noon.

Forks was turning into a halfway decent place to live. The students weren't as aggressive as others had been in past, though she expected that Jasper had been working some of his mojo to make that happen, and Angela was turning into one of her favorite people. Mary was looking at Fork's cheerleading program which was a miracle all in itself with how much they had bounced around from school to school. Best of all, she now had a vintage old truck to look after and Rosalie had started inviting her to garage sessions.

There was not a single time in her life that Bella could remember being happier.

 _Go into the woods._ Bella jumped at the unexpected words but slowly looked to the side of her bed. A dark-haired girl stood over her with a solemn expression. Like some ghosts, her features were incredibly blurred as though even the ghost _herself_ had forgotten what she had looked like in life.

"Why should I?" She asked, knowing that some ghosts tried to trick her into re-enacting their deaths.

 _A breather needs you. I promise that no harm will come to you._ The ghost then disappeared. Bella's eyebrow twitched at the use of word 'breather' as it was typically used in a derogatory fashion towards living people, but she took a deep breath and considered the order seriously.

Never before had a ghost promised her _anything_. Despite how little she normally trusted a ghost, she had a feeling that she should still follow the directions of this one. "Shit." She grabbed her jacket and pocketknife.

The thought of bringing Mary with her occurred, but she didn't want to scare away whoever she was supposed to help. Her sister could be so loud sometimes.

Just as she began to leave her room, a feeling of paranoia hit her. "Ugh." She also pocketed her pepper spray. She shuffled out of the house after lacing up her boots.

The bristles of the first meters of the woods scratched her lightly and the shoulders of her jacket got damp from the leaves. Her boots sunk into the soft, wet ground. Fucking Forks. It was pure luck that it wasn't raining now.

"Hello?" Bella called out even as a shiver ran through her spine. She looked at her feet and sighed in defeat. She'd never told anyone this aspect of her ability, but she always knew if a corpse was beneath her feet. "It's a breather." She reminded herself stubbornly.

She kept walking.

Weak sunlight filtered in lovely circles around her as she continued to stomp through the woods. An odd pull seemed to direct her actions and it took all of her will to not fight the compulsion. This was important. "Anybody here?"

A low whine, so faint it was almost below her hearing, sounded off. An injured dog? She thought deeply and realized a breather did not necessarily imply a human.

"I'm coming, doggie!" She called out. The whining increased as though the poor puppy had heard her. She followed the sounds for almost fifteen minutes, playing an odd version of Marco Polo with the animal.

Until she was face to face with the most beautiful creature she'd ever encountered.

She, somehow Bella _knew_ the wolf was female, was silver and had very fluffy fur. Her eyes were closed as another whine wracked through her chest. Fear tingled down her spine as Bella crouched to get a closer look at her fellow breather.

 _Mary is going to be so mad if I get eaten by a wolf._ Bella was normally the phobic one and it still didn't make sense why she wasn't yet fleeing as fast as she could.

She touched her hand slowly onto the wolf's fur, looking for the reason behind the crying. After awhile, she couldn't help but let a small frown peak through. "There isn't anything wrong with you as far as I can tell. Maybe you're running a doggy fever?"

An indignant whine.

"Well look, I can't fix anything if I can't tell what's broke. I'm going to need you to calm down because there's no way I'll be able to carry you out of here." Bella wasn't sure where she'd find a wolf vet, but she was sure Charlie would help her.

The wolf finally opened her eyes, revealing intelligent pale blue eyes that looked straight into Bella's. The human gasped in surprise while the wolf just stared.

The whining had stopped.

"I need you to follow me." Bella murmured. She then got to her feet, walked a few feet, and looked back. The wolf followed.

—

I glared at the newly acquired yoga mat on the fuschia rug. "It's soo _ugly_." I whispered to myself. There was no avoiding that the selection at Walmart wouldn't satisfy my very specific color scheme in my bedroom. It'd taken weeks to put together my room, although I still had some projects to complete.

"Does it really matter if you can just shove it under your bed when you're done with it?" Jasper asked in amusement. He was leaning against my desk with a slight smile on his face. "We need to get going on that homework or you need to get meditating."

"Meditating with you around would be an exercise in futility. And you mean _I_ need to do _my_ homework."

He shrugged, not bothering to acknowledge that he probably completed all of his homework assignments in thirty seconds.

"Fine." I just shoved myself down into my chair when Jazz suddenly zipped to my side at superhuman speed. An inhuman growl ripped through his chest as if he sensed a threat that I hadn't yet. "What the hell-"

I spun into a vision just as his arms went around me.

_A grey wolf leapt through the window as Bella sprinted into the kitchen where Jazz, Charlie and I were. A flash of Jazz's red shirt and then red was **everywhere**._

_A bleeding and convulsing girl, Leah Clearwater, was on the floor. I stood beside a sobbing Bella and watched as Charlie's eyes went wild with shock and grief as her killer, Jasper Whitlock, stood over Leah._

"Jazz stop! You'll kill her if you go through the kitchen." I panted out.

Pitch black eyes met mine even as he put his hand on the doorknob leading to a future full of grief. "Are _you_ alive though? Is Bella?"

I knew the only way to answer that was to lie. He would be ruthless if he was guaranteed our safety. "No. Jump out the window." My mind raced through that possibility. "We will all be all right if you do that."

"But that _thing_ is going to enter your home with your human father and sister alone here." He snarled.

"She's no different or more dangerous than me or Bella. Stop being bigoted." I snapped back. He groaned and muttered a curse under his breath while he opened and then leapt out of the window with me in his arms.

We ran for some time. He sat me down so I could have my dizzy fit. He flipped open his phone and started talking a million miles per second to Carlisle. Finally he snapped it shut. "There's a treaty between us and the wolves that has been violated but he suspects it is because the girl has just recently Changed. He's contacting the tribal leader to go get her home now."

Some birds chirped and I couldn't keep the goofy smile off of my face now. A giggle went through my body even as I sat down on a fallen tree trunk as I realized the implications of my vision.

Jazz seemed more relaxed now as he plopped down beside me. "What's so funny, darling?"

"All me and Bella ever had to do was live with our dad to find some more weirdos just like us. Werewolves are real and _that's so cool_!"

He snorted before looking slightly remorseful. "That girl will be safer to be around once she's used to being a wolf. She really is no more dangerous than I am. How hypocritical was I back there?"

I patted his leg. "You just were worried is all. In my vision, she seemed to be trying to protect us from you even as you protected us. She couldn't help it. The same way Bella couldn't help the thing that she did to that Lauren chick."

He put his arms around me while I scooted onto his lap. "My jeans are wet." I looked up and suddenly realized this was my first opportunity to explore the woods here. It was so pretty.

"I challenge you." I stood up in jumping excitement as I surveyed the surrounding trees for my Everest. "To a climb off."

"There's no way you'll win."

I was already stretching. "So? We could give you a couple handicaps and I'll still get to climb."

He agreed and we got to quick work. I picked out a sturdy looking evergreen and then it was declared that Jazz had to keep one eye shut, one leg up, and one arm behind his back. With a thirty second head-start. I laughed when he warned me not to fall.

"One, two, three!" I counted happily. "Here I go!"

I leapt onto my beginning branch and the race started. My need to move had always been there and it always felt amazing to satisfy the craving that overtook me. A fair amount of jumping, swinging, and catching would normally be my way of climbing, but I used mostly my feet this time because bleeding from a splinter would be a dick of a move towards my vampire boyfriend.

Despite the hinderance of changing climbing techniques, I was half of the way up the tree when Jazz's time-out was finished. Very even vibrations through the limbs let me know he was leaping. I felt only two of those before he was level with me.

"Sup?" He asked me teasingly before pressing a sweet kiss to my cheek.

We kept climbing for another hour before Carlisle gave the all-clear that Leah was safely back on the reservation.

—

"C'mon girl." Leah couldn't help but obey the beautiful girl, her pads sinking into the cold earth. She was cold and very tired of being a wolf.

Her chocolate locks blew in the wind and Leah couldn't help thinking that it was only for the best that the girl wore strawberry shampoo. There needed to be something _not_ perfect about her.

 _But why can't I get Bella out of my head?_ Sure, she had always been bisexual but she was supposed to still be messed up over Sam. It'd only been... she wasn't sure how much time had passed since she had started losing her mind in this form.

It felt like it was impossible to be that torn up about anything with the Swan nearby. The moment she had looked into those big, chocolate eyes, she'd been broken and remolded into a new person. It was scary.

_Is she a witch?_

It seemed like a possibility unless... if it was possible for her, a girl, to be a Protector, then surely an imprint was possible?

Before she could speculate on that thought, the woods broke into the Swan's backyard. She'd never actually had seen it before. Charlie had always been the one to bring the girls to the Rez so there really hadn't been a reason to visit. She'd always been closer to Mary than the quieter Bella anyway.

 _That certainly will change._ Leah mentally slapped herself for the innuendo.

"Wait here, girl, I need to make sure Charlie won't shoot you on accident." Bella gently touched a tiny hand to Leah's head. She walked into the house and the shapeshifter was shocked to find that she could hear the other girl from inside the house. "Dad! I found a domesticated wolf in the woods, please do _not_ shoot her."

Leah was almost positive that there was a better way to frame that conversation.

She could hear Charlie scramble from a kitchen chair before sputtering. "A wolf? In Washington?" A pause before he cursed. "Those Lannisters and their damn illegal pet fetish. A wild animal is wild for a reason." They both began to walk out, although Leah couldn't help but feel a little nervous that Charlie held a shotgun in his hand.

 _He won't shoot me. Charlie good._ She reminded herself stoutly as her first instinct was to run. They'd store her in the garage and she'd figure out how to get back to normal.

"So there is a logical reason for all of this!" Bella sounded relieved at this news.

"Wow she is huge." Charlie sounded impressed yet still extremely wary of her. "How did you find her?"

"In the woods. She listens to commands like she's been trained or something."

"You didn't run straight away?" Her father sounded amazed but also a little frightened at his daughter's bravery. Leah couldn't help but agree with him.

Bella blushed and looked at her feet. "Sorry Dad, can't really explain it."

Charlie just sighed and gestured for Leah to follow him. She padded across the grass, but stopped when she heard a truck stop near the house.

"Charlie?" Billy called out from the passenger side window with Harry Clearwater at the wheel. Leah's tail started thumping like crazy; her father would be able to help her.

Charlie jogged towards the truck. "Any news on Leah?" Billy and Harry both stared at the wolf with barely veiled excitement.

The two men broke out in big smiles and the police chief put his head in his hands. "Thank god. I'm so glad to hear that, Harry, where was she?"

Leah's father chuckled. "She decided a trans-state trip on a Greyhound bus would be wise. Sue is picking her up."

"What brings you out here now?"

"Old Quil's wolf broke out of her enclosure and we got a call that she was somewhere around here. Didn't think it'd be this easy though." Billy sighed. His eyes still hadn't left Leah, who was doing a victory roll in the grass as Bella laughed.

Charlie's mouth busted open. "Since when does Old Quil have a wolf?"

"Since forever. Sorry Charlie, but letting a cop know even though it's not against tribal law was... " Harry trailed off convincingly, "I promise we give her the best life we can."

Bella's dad got slightly red and rubbed his face. "A wildlife reservation would be better, but-" He threw up his hands, "whatever. I'm just glad to hear Leah's all right. Scared the shit out of me."

"Us too." Leah's saviors responded. She was slow to get in the back of the truck when she realized that she was leaving Bella.

"What's up with ya, Bells?" I gestured at her with my spoon while the Cullens looked at her with concern. I'd finally had a breakthrough with the meditation and my vision of her vampirism hadn't moved an inch. It was beginning to make me suspect that the future wasn't as mutable as I'd previously believed.

Our lunchtime had officially become our powwow with Jazz and his family, especially since Angela has a different lunch hour.

"I'm not sure. Just feel sick." Bella stared at her untouched food while Rosalie touched her shoulder lightly in condolence. We'd all become thick as thieves since Rose bridged my interest of shopping with Bella's love for mechanics.

I sighed even when Jasper 'sacrificed' his cookie to me. Not even my favorite sweet could fix the worry I felt. I was concerned for Bella while the Cullens were getting increasingly concerned for Edward. It seemed odd to worry for a 110 year old man, but the length of time he had been gone was very uncharacteristic of him.

The rest of the day went well. The dance committee had asked me to join them and it was an utter delight to finally flex the kind of muscles I wanted. My geometry class was starting to make sense ever since Jazz started helping me and the teacher finally stopped looking concerned for me.

"What the hell is Angie doing with _her_?" Bella muttered as we headed to the truck. Her eyes were narrowed across the lot so I followed her gaze.

"Wow."

The exclamatory seemed appropriate for what we were witnessing. Angela was walking alongside a grinning Lauren and was laughing. It seemed pretty shitty considering all of the gossip I had been forced to crush concerning Bella and I lately. The latest nasty rumor was that we were _both_ screwing Jasper.

Luckily enough, it seemed as though I had achieved some pull in some powerful social circles ever since Lauren's stint in the cuckoo nest.

But I still wasn't able to stop the sadness that entered Bella's gaze as she watched Angela and Lauren.


	16. Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter gets sad

Jasper couldn't help the smile quirking his lips as he cheerfully followed the girls through the department store. Mary could hardly be seen from the tall racks of clothing, Rosalie was up in the fray right with her, and Bella hung back with him. It was a little sweet that Rose stuck with them on these trips since she often went on extravagant trips to other countries when she shopped alone.

His sister sorely stuck out among the clientele, although Jasper was sure that he wasn't doing much better. People were staring at him, either horny or curious or fearful, but it hardly touched his mood.

The dance was approaching and his girls were getting ramped up for it. Mary had spent an extra five hours at the school yesterday decorating the gym with one of her committees while Rose had handed her an entire DJ studio stand preloaded with almost every song imaginable. Now, two days before the big event, the girls had the critical mission of finally picking the dresses out.

The only one extremely underwhelmed by the entire process was Bells. She'd been excited when she'd still liked Angela, but Jasper wasn't sure if the girl had even realized that her feelings had changed yet. He himself wasn't sure how the drastic change had occurred, but now his friend radiated depression and boredom.

She was leaning against his arm, face uptilted towards the artificial lights as though they could revive her. Her scent was causing him to drool venom a little bit, but he was so used to the instinctive reaction that he thought nothing of it. "Are you still going to that party?"

Lauren Mallory's after party to the dance, the one that Angela had begged Bella to take her to. Although they weren't openly gay, apparently it wasn't uncommon for same sex friends to go to dances together nowadays. Angela's father had been so thrilled that he wouldn't have to worry about a boy that he was missing the bigger picture.

Bella was starting to get annoyed by the need for secrecy, but once again Jasper knew that she was trying desperately to ignore it.

"Yeah, even though you and Mary aren't invited so I'm not even entirely sure why Ange wants to go so bad."

"Don't sweat it, we don't care. Mary's practically gitty that you are going somewhere without her forcing you to." Jasper did the best to keep his voice neutral even when Mary's beautiful face peeked out of the sea of dresses to smile at him. His undead heart stuttered.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Bella and it cheered her up slightly. "You've made her so happy. I never thought I'd see it."

"Wasn't she always happy before, anyway?" He couldn't help but be surprised because in his mind, she was the constant source of happiness and vibrancy that he had become thoroughly addicted to.

"Yeah," She watched her younger sister with eyes that seemed to see more than even Jasper could, "she's always been relatively cheerful, but our world has always just been the two of us. It made her, a natural social butterfly, feel a little stifled. Now she has it all."

They both fell into silence and Jasper couldn't help but to think of a future where they'd keep aging and he'd stay the same. It was a conundrum that Edward, if he hadn't run off somewhere, would be gleeful to remind all of the Cullens of.

He resolved to only worry about it once it started effecting Mary. Borrowing trouble hardly seemed worth the heartbreak.

The rest of the week passed in a slow drum towards the dance on Saturday. The only break from the ordinary was when Mary insisted on a 'dress rehearsal' for the two of them since she was still angry that he hadn't let her pick out his tux. It'd been kind of cute to make her angry so he saw no harm in playing dress up for her.

" _Come on out Jazz!" She demanded through the crack of his bedroom door. He could hear the impatient clicking of a tiny heel as his little lady paced._

_"Calm down, I've been dressing myself longer than you've been alive." He teased as he did up his last button._

_"Yeah, in all black for all I can tell." She sniffed as he finally opened the door. But when she caught sight of him, her beautiful emerald eyes went huge and her mouth popped open. Her little princess- styled copper dress clashed with her dark, spiky hair and eyes. Her four-inch heels barely brought her to Jasper's shoulder._

_He crossed the room to her, stopping about two feet back to give her time to inspect. "Do I pass muster?" He was somewhat worried that he'd fucked up her color-scheme and that's why all he felt from her was shock._

_Wordlessly, she nodded with a big blush coming across her face. And then her feelings hit him and then he understood. Before he could open his mouth and smugly brag on his success, she flung herself at him and pressed her lips to his._

_Dammit, but he had to find a way to not always have his girl be the one initiating their kisses. It looked pansy as hell even if he did love it._

_Smiling against her mouth, he murmured. "I did good, didn't I?"_

_She broke their kiss for a second to smile wildly up at him. "I might allow you to dress yourself for future events."_

_He laughed even as they got more swept up into each other._

"What in the world are you thinking about?" Emmett wondered as he shrugged his tux jacket over his massive shoulders. They'd both decided to hang out together before the dance; mainly because Esme and Rose were a thunderstorm of activity around the house and it was beginning to make even Emmett nervous.

"Nothing much."

"Uh huh." Emmett's doubt brushed against Jasper's senses. "Are we picking up the girls?"

"Just Mary." Bella was driving Angela in the pick-up.

They both began the slow trek up from their basement 'man cave' that Esme had relinquished from her decorating. Once they got up the stairs, it wasn't very much of a surprise to see Rosalie typing a million words per minute on her cell phone. "Are we good to go?" She asked without looking up from her task.

Both men nodded meekly even as Esme shoved a camera into Rose's hands. "Get pictures of everything. All of you together, Mary's dress, and Bella's, got it?" The command seemed uncharacteristically threatening with its intensity.

The blonde bombshell saluted their mother figure as they walked out of the door.

It all passed in a blur as they picked up an overly excited Mary, snapped pictures for Charlie, and walked into the gym that now more closely resembled a gorgeous banquet hall.

"Pretty great, right?" Marry grinned up at him even as music pumped around them. Rose and Emmett slipped off and she was already putting her arms around him.

"Every other dance, remember our deal?" Even as their bodies swayed Jasper knew he'd end up caving. They danced through almost every song without stopping, Jasper only sitting down when a group of girls ambushed Mary to gossip. Just as he cracked back his shoulders in one of his 'tics' he'd developed to look more human, he noticed Bella and Angela standing awkwardly across the room in an isolated corner.

"C'mon Bella, I _promised_ Lauren that we would be there! I know all of this seems strange but it really does seem like she's trying to make it up to you." The taller girl stared down at her girlfriend intensely.

Bella ran a hand down her face as though they'd had the same argument before. "Why does a promise to Lauren mean so much to you?" Her voice was raw.

Angela blushed. "We grew up together. Her family goes to our church, she used to be my friend so I at least owe her a second chance now."

Jasper's eyes narrowed at that and was more than a little surprised at the normally gentle girl's passion. Angela, apparently, was still harboring feelings for the abrasive girl. Bella, always so perceptive, didn't seem to notice as she bit her lip indecisively. She threw her hands up. "Alright, Ange, I'll stop fighting this. But I'm only staying for an hour."

"Jazz. Are you eavesdropping?" Mary grinned down at him while she held out a hand. A slow dance was on and she obviously hadn't let him off the hook yet.

"Maybe." He forgot all about what he just witnessed as he appreciated her copper earrings that went with her dress. It looked great with her short hair and somehow made her even prettier.

He didn't let her go until the music stopped.

Charlie Swan's heart stopped when he heard the address of the call. "The Mallory's place?" He pulled a 180 in his police cruiser, desperate to get into the right direction.

"Yes, Chief. Reported assault on an underage girl, ambulances on the way. No description of perp or the condition of victim."

_Bella said that she was going to that party._

Ignoring the impossible nightmare because that's the only way he'd be able to function, Charlie drove and forced himself into a professional frame of mind. His training was the best way to respond for everyone involved. _Whether or not that was his little girl..._

He yanked himself out of that thought again as he arrived at the Mallory residence. His men were working on securing the scene of the crime, which was a little off in the backyard where a scattering of a few trees were. He didn't remember walking there or barking out orders, but he did. It looked as though the Mallorys had made an outdoor area with a fire pit, a great feature for a party like this.

The paramedics were loading up the victim and at first all he could see was shoulder-length, curly hair. _The right color, but wrong length..._ Charlie's panic lessened.

 _It can't be Bella, her hair is so much longer than that!_ Even as he felt the punch of visceral joy that his daughter was okay, the yellow medical stretcher pitched on the uneven ground, giving him a view of the victim's pale face.

Chief Charlie Swan fell to his knees.

Dr. Carlisle Cullen smoothed a gentle hand over Bella's skin, regretting the bruised flesh and the tube shoved down her throat, forcing the girl to breath. It had taken hours to stabilize her to this extent, and they were waiting on the brain scans that held all the weight to the family waiting. Sadness, as much as he could muster for a _human_ , gathered in the pit of his stomach at the unthinkable.

Despite his best attempts at humanizing himself, Carlisle couldn't stop the desensitization that came with centuries of watching humans die. Even for a human that meant so much to his family members.

 _It doesn't help **she** is the reason Edward's gone. _The bitterness of his beloved son's absence spilled into the forefront of his conscious even as he squeezed his fists in an effort to put things into perspective. _She's just a child,_ he reminded himself, _and this is far too soon to be her time._

The reminder worked and Carlisle looked at the situation with new eyes; That this happened in Forks of all places and to one of the Swan girls, it seemed impossible. He'd asked his staff to give him some time with the girl before he spoke to Mary and Charlie. But the extra time wasn't to prepare himself for the worst, it was to investigate.

He hadn't spent centuries honing his medical skills for nothing. He scanned the patient's body for anything that could be useful for a police report or his family, anything distinguishable or telling.

Her skin was mottled with bruises from blunt trauma. It was impossible to tell where one blow originated and another began. The color of the bruises were completely even, which implied the perfectly distributed force was more akin to a machine than that of a human.

Her face was completely untouched, save a traumatic blow to the back of her head.

That hadn't bled, but had undoubtably caused a brain bleed to complement the internal bleeding already caused by a pierced lung from a broken rib.

Since it had mostly been Bella's torso and not her face that had taken the trauma, Carlisle's eyes widened. _There hadn't been even a speck of blood on the girl_. Her attacker hadn't gone after her face because the nose, mouth, head were more likely to bleed externally from punches.

Humans almost always attacked the face unless extremely detached from the situation. But the impossibly even, mechanical abuse with _a lack of blood_?

Carlisle gave the girl one last look before exiting the room quickly. He remained with his back to the door, unwilling to chance leaving her entirely, and flipped open his phone. "Jasper, get to the hospital and don't let Mary out of your sight."

"... The blood, Carlisle." His son's voice, both so angry and anguished and ashamed, rang out to him. "I won't be able to handle that much blood."

The doctor cursed himself as he realized the newest addition to his coven was undoubtedly right. Jasper had improved in impressive bounds over the past few months, but was still nowhere close to being able to handle the amount of blood in an emergency room. "Send Rosalie and Esme down, I need you to investigate the crime scene without being caught. It's vamps, take Emmett with you and be careful." Even as he snapped the phone closed, the pacifist in Carlisle shuddered at the potential bloodshed that his son would cause.

I sat beside Charlie with his hand crushed in my own. Each breath I took came with an image and I could hardly stare at my own high heels without skittering into a vision. Always the same one with Bella's bloodied eyes and pleading words as I disappeared into the void.

But juxtaposed on top of that vision was another, another of a grey, grey day where Rene, Charlie, and I put my beloved sister in the ground forever.

Faced with this, sobs wracked my body and Dad dragged me close and hugged me tight to him. "She'll be all right, _it's okay_..."

I just cried harder. Even as I resolved to save Bells no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: if my sister or mom read this they'd laugh their asses off because they're medical professionals, so sorry if the hospital scene was super bad lol


	17. Emmett the Genius

Jasper waited in the trees, holding Emmett back from the crime scene with a practiced hand signal he'd made sure all members of the Cullen clan would be able to use in emergencies. Immortality meant nothing when pitted against another immortal with the same strength and claws.

It was a lesson that he'd had engraved into his brain from the moment that his heart had ceased to beat onward as his life as a pawn had begun. His brothers and sisters in death hadn't stood a chance against him.

Rage built in him as he took in the scene. The Mallory house was framed by the forest, a common feature that all rural houses in Forks shared. The basic as hell fire pit had no empty drinks next to it, no lawn chairs, no sign that there were other people hanging out there.

For a loner like Bella, a warm empty campfire in the middle of a crowded party would've been irresistible.

"Do you smell that?" Emmett murmured, his sunny demeanor completely wiped and replaced by something far darker. While many assumed Edward was the most stuck in his time out of the Cullens, Jasper knew it was actually his more open brother who was more protective of women. His relationship with Rose, despite its appearance of being shallow and juvenile, was built on deep respect and loss.

Blinding shock went through him as he identified the scent which was entirely too faint to be a human's, but so familiar. " _No_."

"Creepy Eddie has finally gone too far." Emmett was already following the trail while Jasper couldn't move. It'd been Edward who'd saved him and shown him the most bearable way to live, yet he had done _this_?

It made no sense, but nonetheless he followed his brother because Bella deserved justice.

Underneath Edward's scent was a much fainter one. _Is he just a decoy or did he pair up with another vampire?_ Jasper's trained military mind went to work, methodically dissecting every little detail to its smallest element.

They came to a screeching halt as a river hit their path. His fist slammed into a tree without much thought as Emmett turned swiftly around in an angry stomp. The large man's tux looked out of place in the forest, and Jasper realized rather hollowly that he himself looked no different. Nonetheless, he turned in the same direction and noticed something strange right off the bat.

"Em, where we heading?" It was certainly not in the direction of their home or the hospital.

He grunted. "The girls' house. Why pulverize a human at a crowded party rather than an isolated as hell backyard?"

"They were doing surveillance." Jasper realized out loud. _How had he missed them?_ He couldn't help but mentally beat himself up over it.

"Must've been spooked since Eddie knows you're a scary motherfucker."

He didn't bother to argue back as he thought back to Edward's obsession with Bella. He'd been consumed with so many emotions about the girl. But violence hadn't even been hinted at.

Edward was delusional about a lot of things, but how serious it was to take a human life wasn't one of them.

They arrived at the empty, desolate house that now hurt Jasper's heart to look at. They were both in so much pain and he'd failed to protect them from that. A warning look from Emmett got him back to task and away from his self-loathing as they crouched in Forks' forest soil in a strategic circle.

A low growl. "Scent is ruined by that LaPush dog." Emmett sounded frustrated as his brother ran the half-mile distance between them. Jasper then glanced at their position and a feral smile split his scarred face.

A thrill of terror went down Emmett's spine at the sight.

"Time to catch the mutt."

••••••••••••••••••••

Leah groaned and whimpered even as another slice of pain pervaded her abdomen. She'd been dreaming of running, a stereotypical dog dream that continuously pissed her off.

Even if running was the only halfway fun pastime in her otherwise miserable and freakish life, it didn't have to _taunt_ her with her own inhumanity.

 _Bella._ Leah's eyes split open before leaping off of her bed and to the bathroom. She slammed the toilet lid open and proceeded dry heaving painfully with little success. Shivers went through her body as she began to take her clothes off and half-crawled to the back door in her quarters that her dad had installed just for this purpose. She sprinted to the forest on all fours.

Going wolf had gotten considerably easier in the weeks since Billy and her father had found her. _Since Bella had found her._ And life had transformed to an even shittier version of itself.

To make matters more confusing, Sam was openly dating Emily and that had nothing to do with her predicament. It instead had everything to do with being a werewolf and imprinting on a total stranger. She was so confused.

As her paws sank into the soft earth and she crossed into the forbidden boundary of the Cold Ones, she still wasn't sure why a shy white girl from Forks was the one who controlled her every waking breath. A girl who already had a girlfriend.

_A girl who currently needed her._

Praying that the pull in her chest wouldn't disappear along with her imprint into the sprawling abyss of death that hung above them both, it never occurred to Leah to keep an eye on the trees. So it stood within the bounds of reason that she never stood a chance.

She was sent flying in the air by what could only be a freight train into her side. Her ribs broke cleanly and instantaneously healed even as her path in the air was stopped by a pair of ironclad arms that were as unyielding as anything she'd come up against.

The she-wolf growled deep and low even as a deep Southern drawl interrupted her. "Now c'mon, Leah, I'm just going to ask you a couple questions."

A deep calm overtook her even as she whined. A large hand pet her head. It was difficult to smell that sickly sweet scent she normally sensed around the bloodsuckers.

She snapped her teeth woozily and a short, harsh bark of laughter went through the monster who held her. "Fair enough." He stopped petting her.

Time seemed to slip by sluggishly for awhile and before Leah knew it, she was turned back to human form.

The man set her down onto the forest floor and she tried her best to panic but it just wouldn't happen. _Something is wrong._ Her nightvision, crystal-clear even while human, revealed a tall man with half-crescent scars dominating a perfect and handsome face. He was dressed to the nines with a bronze undershirt peaking from an upturned collar.

"Here, take this." The man's eyes, an inhuman black, never wandered from her own as he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it to her.

 _A vampire. He's a vampire, not a man._ It was difficult to remember that past the fog in her head. She struggled into the jacket jerkily. "Are you going to kill me?" Words, often her strong suit, came garbled out of her throat.

The vampire's fists tightened. "I hope not."

Finally, a thrill of the tiniest fear jolted through her mind and cleared the fog. "What were you going to ask me, leech?"

In an instant, he was directly over her with his fists cracking the tree above her head. "You broke the treaty, puppy. Right at my girlfriend's home. I'm within the treaty bounds in snapping your spine right now."

Leah gulped as whatever hold he had held on her disappeared. It took all of her willpower to not shift, but one thing kept her anchored. An older than time instinct to protect her imprint.

 _She was in trouble. **Bella** needed her. _"Please let me go." Leah whispered. "Just this once."

The vampire didn't budge from his spot, but his perfect face softened a fraction and that damn fuzzy feeling of calm flooded her once again. "Leah, why were you outside the Swan house?"

Leah gritted her teeth and glared at him. Fuck him if he thought whatever weird power he had would make her compromise Bella.

"Oh, that is _interesting_. Does Edward have such power over you?"

Her mouth popped open at that. "Edward Cullen? You're a dumb son of a bitch if you think some leech tells me what to do."

He looked at her a long moment before running an annoyed hand through his hair as though _she_ was the one inconveniencing _him_. "Look, why in the hell did we smell you outside of their house and you feel like the most lovesick-"

"For God's sake, genius, she's got the hots for Bella!" A booming voice interrupted her captor. Leah's sensitive ears rang.

Her face also burned. The scarred man instantly relinquished his posturing over her while he hit his forehead with his hand. "Why didn't I see that?"

A behemoth of a vampire, somehow even larger than the first, finally appeared next to her. "Stay focused, Jazz. We need to find the bastard." Anger was a live flame across his face.

'Jazz's face darkened. "Right. Leah, I need your help on something. Maybe, _just maybe_ I'll let you see Bella if you're real useful."

Leah whined despite not being in her wolf form.

•••••••••••••••••••

Bre swung the burlap sack over her shoulder, utterly annoyed by the sheer weight of it. The mind reader was beginning to regenerate, and Maria had decreed that she not delay the process in any way.

So she had been forced to tote the sad son of a bitch in all of his entirety while she beat the human down with one fist. It was annoying work, especially when she had to resist the urge to suck the girl dry and to control her own strength.

 _This is the only way to gain her favor._ Bre reminded herself. She wanted to rule her own territory after two hundred years of dicking around and getting in good with one of the Queens of the Southern Wars was a great skipping stone to begin with. As she arrived to the shady as hell warehouse that served as headquarters, it was difficult not to yawn.

The work was _so_ boring. What self-respecting vampire felt the need to put a hit out on a human girl?

"It was disgusting to see your work." Gabi, Maria's pet, greeted her at the door. She sat criss-cross applesauce on a yoga mat with her eyes closed.

"I'm so glad that you used your freak powers to spy on me." Bre replied dryly. She couldn't wait to steal Gabi once she had more clout than Maria; seeing the future, how could one lose?

The seer nodded towards the burlap. "Mistress wants to talk to you, so you can leave that here."

She dropped the sack and weaved her way through the newborns, many of whom hadn't cleaned up from their last feeding. _Disgusting_.

"Was it done?" The tiny vamp curtly asked as soon as she was through the door.

"Hello to you too," Bre rolled her eyes as she responded, "Yeah, the girl is in critical condition in the hospital as we speak."

"Good. I need you to do some more surveillance for me."

She bit back a groan, but felt a glimmer of hope peak through. "On the Cullens?" They were even renowned among the Volturi and were considerably gifted. Defeating them would be instrumental in gaining the ability to lead a coven and earn a territory.

"Close. The girl's sister. She should have the most dangerous Cullen with her, and I need you to figure out a way to get her alone."

"When are we making our moves on them?" Bre asked, at last allowing some of her frustration to break through her facade. "When do we attack?"

Black, hungry eyes blinked at her slowly. "Why would we do that?"

 _It was as though she was in the twilight zone!_ "To make a statement. To rule."

Maria laughed outright at her. A tinkling sound that made Bre's eye twitch. "To kill the Cullens would be a loss."

"Why?"

"They're powerful. _They_ are the conquest. If we can manipulate them, we will rule them." Before she knew it, Bre was on the ground with Maria's claws at her throat. "Now do as I say and I might give you a treat."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Color filtered through my eyes oddly and it was really difficult to not seem crazed. _Three days without sleep at this point._ It seemed as long as Bella's life was hanging on a thread, my visions were determined to take me out with her. Carlisle had tried to drug me asleep, but Jasper had made sure that the old vampire wouldn't do it against my will.

He'd tackled Emmett and thrown Rosalie through a window when the family had tried to take matters into their own hands.

I now stood in the living room of the Cullens, facing the family alone since Jazz stood beside Esme. "It's the only way!"

Carlisle had a deep frown on his face with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Her prognosis isn't clear yet, Mary. I cannot Change her while she still has a chance." His voice had a thread of cold steel in it.

"There is no future where she lives as a human. _I've seen it!_ The longer you wait, the more I see her gravestone!" I screeched at them at the top of my lungs as my vision kept switching realities in front of me.

At this point, it took all of my concentration to walk on my own. Insanity seemed to be gripping at me, but there was no way to escape it.

"Mary Alice, please listen to him, sweetheart." Jasper zipped across the room to stand in front of me, serving as a solid wall between his family and me.

" _Please_ listen to me. She's going to die." I whispered and it seemed as though my grip from the present was beginning to disappear entirely. Jazz's face was hardly visible against the cold, cold future.

 _Then he was gone._ All I could do was watch outside my body as my family and I mourned over Bella's gravestone. The moment stretched tight and insidiously until it was all I could remember and the Cullens' living-room was gone.

After an eternity in that cemetery, I forgot my friends, the people standing next to me. Fear overtook my body and the last rational action I committed was reciting my name. My name, I needed to at least remember who I am. Who I was...

_Mary Alice Swan. Mary Alice Swan. Mary Alice Swan..._

The cemetery began to crack around me, shattering into a billion pieces into an abyss that made me shake. Dying. I could only be dying.

_Mary Alice. Mary Alice. Mary Ali..._

My feet were no longer touching the ground. Concentration shattered. Who was I? Something with an M, oh God, it was gone. Was anything left? Bit my lip, drew blood, did I remember anything?

_Amelia. Allen. Ali. Ali? Alice? Yes Alice! Alice. Alice. Alice. Alice._

I held on as long as I could.


	18. Ties to Reality

Jasper stared at Mary, his mind frozen in fear. "Mary?" His voice, impossible though it seemed, seemed to be hoarse.

She had collapsed in his arms, a tiny motionless doll who wasn't so much as moving her eyes under her eyelids. Carlisle had been concerned enough by her symptoms that he'd quickly moved to create a small hospital ward in his office. If she didn't get better soon, he'd move her to the hospital and let Charlie know.

The thought of having to give the police chief more bad news complemented the internal grief that howled and consumed inside.

 _It's her gift. She knows the future, was being tormented by it, and I ignored it._ And now it consumed her. He didn't deserve her if he couldn't even protect her from herself.

"Son." Carlisle gripped his shoulders and it seared through his focus on Mary in a painful burst.

"I'm not your son." He jerked the other vampire's hand off his shoulder in a rough gesture. But as he lashed out, he simultaneously broke. "Please fix her." It was all that he could say without saying something worse.

A pale hand graced over Mary's forehead fleetingly. She again seemed oblivious to the chill of the touch, an uncommon behavior for an unconscious human. Her heart was utterly slow and calm and so unlike her that it grated in the otherwise silent room.

"In all my years is existence, I've never seen a human hurt under a supernatural gift." Carlisle's face was uncharacteristically neutral, but Jasper dismissed it as hurt over his earlier rejection.

"Had you even seen a human with a supernatural gift before this?" Rosalie entered the room, having gone off Bella-guarding duty at the hospital. Her topaz eyes locked onto Mary's tiny body and her fists clenched.

Carlisle's gaze went thoughtful. "I've had my suspicions with a couple of nurses that I've worked with in the past, but none confirmed as with Bella and Mary."

"Edward being here right now would be valuable." Jasper felt the frustration that came with all the weird shit that'd been happening over the last few months. First Edward's disappearance, his scent by the crime scene, and now the strange vampire Leah had seen by the Swan's house.

_A dark, angry expression crossed the she-wolf's face. "If I hadn't been so distracted by your stinky ass in Bella's house, I would've been able to catch the bitch."_

_Bitch? Confusion went through Jasper and he exchanged a glance with Emmett. "It wasn't Edward?"_

_A derisive snort. "If Edward doesn't have double Ds, then I'd be inclined to say no."_

_"Anything else about her?"_

_"She was carrying a stinky-ass sack over her shoulder."_

This ordeal wasn't about the girls. It was about getting to their coven and sending a message. It made him want to question Carlisle, the one vampire old enough in the clan to have any serious enemies, so that he could get rid of the threat.

But Jasper Whitlock wasn't naive enough to believe that this was about Carlisle.

It was him who'd battled for decades in a vampiric war, he who had murdered hundreds of newborns. He was the one who'd abandoned Maria and foresworn all he'd ever known. He was the reason that the girl he loved was locked inside her own mind and her sister was near death.

But first thing was first. Before he could destroy his enemies and save his brother, he needed to make sure the girls were safe. No matter the cost.

Leah laid her head on her paws while staring at Forks Hospital, fighting every one of her instincts to fight her way to her imprint. But she trusted Jasper about as far as she could throw him, and she wasn't an impatient predator; from what her father had been telling her she'd go berserk if she saw the damage done.

They still weren't sure if she'd make it and both the wolf and Leah didn't know if they'd be able to survive either.

 _Will the pull disappear if they turn her into a vampire?_ Leah wasn't so sure, but she wasn't blind to the options. The vampires appeared attached to her and they obviously weren't accustomed to the tradition of letting nature take its course.

 _ **How dare you think about that?**_ A male voice roared in her head even as her ears flattened in irritation. _We should stop this immediately._

 _Shut up, cheater._ Of course, her luck had gotten even worse when her ex had turned wolf just the day before. As a result of Emily dumping his useless ass for some wealthier dude from her college.

But there were some perks.

 _ **You won't tell anyone about the Cullens planning on turning Bella into a vamp.** _The alpha command rang through their bond and Sam instantly submitted to it. Not that he knew how to phase back anyway since he was so pissed off about Emily.

She went back to ignoring him. Other young adults and teenagers were showing signs of the Change, and it looked as though Jacob would take up the mantle of alpha. Seth, her precious baby brother, was on the the watch-list which made Leah wish that the vampires in the area would just disappear.

It would be a great bargain if she and Sam could get rid of the strange vampires in the forest and for the Cullens to leave in thanks. Jasper Hale had already had his leader in contact with the Council and he'd agreed to leave if the tribe continued to experience a growing wolf pack.

But none of that mattered to Leah as long as Bella's future remained bleak and blurry.

And that very reason was why all of the fur on her back stood when she realized that Jasper, his eyes nearly yellow from animal blood, walked towards her with the strangest expression on his face. "Easy there, girl."

Once again, the she-wolf found herself unable to move from all that goodwill he was emitting her way. A whimper went through her as she quickly realized that the vampire was putting her to sleep. It'd leave her defenseless.

"I'm so sorry, hopefully your love isn't fragile, darling."

A desperate whimper echoed through the trees just as she lost consciousness.

Emmett leaned in his waiting room chair, closing his eyes as he concentrating on distracting himself from the blood surrounding him. He'd have to text Esme to relieve him soon, but he was glad that all of Bella's wounds had clotted enough that they could all guard her at closer quarters. A human was ridiculously fragile to any type of shaking, dropping, or squeezing.

It scared the shit out of him.

"Em." Jasper walked into the room and the large vampire nearly gasped in surprise at his appearance.

"How many deer did you drain? Your eyes practically look like piss."

The taller vampire shoved a shaky hand through his curls even as he kept approaching Bella's hospital bed. "Don't make me say. Are there cameras in here?"

"None." It'd been one of the few things that Rosalie had told him as they rotated. And then she'd pulled him into a supplies closet where they made out. But, as Emmett reminded himself as he stared at his deranged-looking brother, was besides the point.

"I don't know why we didn't listen to Mary." Jasper shoved his hand into his pocket and brought out two syringes filled with a red substance. In an instant, Emmett sprang to his feet and had his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"Are you sure about this?" There'd be no going back.

"Mary went into some weird-ass coma trying to tell us this, Emmett. Hold me back if I go for her throat."

Jasper then gently injected both vials into Bella's forearms. The scent of her blood nearly drove the other vampire into a blood frenzy, but he stopped breathing just in time.

 _Carlisle is going to be **soo** mad._ But even on that thought, Emmett could hardly blame his brother. Things had hardly been looking good for the girl, and he believed that it was only Carlisle's guilt over Changing the brooding Edward that had been getting in the way of saving Bella's life. That particular member of the coven had always been pretty vocal about his overly pessimistic opinion on vampirism.

Being changed had been the best thing that had ever happened to Emmett, so maybe it was a personality trait?

"Go and tell the others now. We only have so long until her heart stops."

Emmett left the room very quickly after seeing Jasper's pitch-black eyes and heartbroken expression. Killing to save, after all, was still murder.

—-

I woke up to a cacophony of beautiful voices rising in rage. The filtered light burned through my retinas even as a group of beautiful people continued to argue, pretty passionately, across the strange, small library in which I'd woken up in. The white sheets and uncomfortable squeak let me know that I was in a hospital bed.

 _Models, they're models._ My brain supplied helpfully. You're just in one of those supermodel shows so they're creating drama for the cameras.

 _Should I create drama to blend in?_ I bit my lip indecisively as the most gorgeous male of the group backed down another male model who was probably just angry that he was too old to make the final cut. The gorgeous one then glanced my way.

All sense left my body when I caught sight of his pitch dark eyes that were entirely too tormented to be human.

He appeared close enough to me to cradle my cheek within the next second. "Mary." The name was spoken out of hot model guy's Southern twang like a prayer.

"Who?" I squinted my eyes at him in confusion. It was blinding to witness how beautiful this man was while simultaneously being called a strange name.

He blinked at me and staggered back even as the older man behind him glared at us. "I can feel just how confused you are, darling. Please tell me this is a joke?"

"This is a joke?" I really didn't want to disappoint the hot guy even if nothing happening made any sense.

Old guy pushed past hot guy to shine a flashlight into my eye. "No concussion. Do you remember anything, Mary?"

"My name is Alice and..." It felt like I was shoving hard against this dense fog in my head to retrieve the one image engraved into my skull. "a graveyard. That's all."

A sudden urgency overtook my body. "Is Bella Swan dead?" The name on that gravestone made my heart beat faster.

Hot guy ruffled my hair before stepping back. He looked real sad. "See, Carlisle? Making sure they're safe is going to be real easy if you cooperate."

"How will you keep her alive with a newborn on your hands? You're being irresponsible, Jasper." Carlisle called out angrily above me.

"Listen to him." A blonde supermodel stepped forward while her golden eyes shimmered in the light prettily. "He has more experience than any of us on hostile vampires."

"He turned a defenseless human while she still had a chance!"

"This girl sees _chance_ , Carlisle! We've seen countless times where Mary predicted the impossible, Edward himself confirmed it. If Mary said Bella didn't have a chance as a human, then we should've listened." The blonde turned dramatically away before stomping out of the same exit as Hot Guy.

 _Wow, these models are weird._ I stifled a giggle before drifting to sleep again.

"You gotta keep staying quiet, Bells. I promise it'll be over soon."

Jasper sat at Bella's bedside with her hand in his own. Her lips were blue and no longer did warmth sear from her into his body. This was the most critical time in his plan, where Charlie Swan received the terrible news of his daughter's death and he saw the body for himself.

They had approximately a day left before a switch-up at the funeral home occurred and Bella completed her transformation at the Cullens' home. Then it'd be time for Jasper to go hunting as his family protected the girls.

How to explain Mary's amnesia would be another punishment for the police chief.

He forced himself to release Bella's hand and leave before a stray nurse discovered the terrible news.


	19. The Reckoning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This might be gruesome, but I don't really think so?

Bella couldn't so much as twitch a finger as they laid her in the cold, padded box. It felt like an eternity had passed since she'd woken in a viciously strange agony that'd chased her heartbeat away. Ever since the dark angel had attacked her, she'd merely been sleeping and waiting to follow the death's siren call to the other side. Awareness of outside forces had disappeared.

But once the fire in her bones began, sensation from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair returned. Her hearing caught every whisper uttered by the nurses just outside her door.

She'd heard Jasper tell her not to scream right after her heart stopped working. Bella had very much wanted to reply that his order was impossible to disobey _since movement was no longer an option_. But the visit did tell her through the tremors of knives through her body that there would be an end to it all, that she hadn't died all the way.

Being a vampire already sucked.

Yet as Bella Swan was placed into her coffin, the worst thing to happen was still her father's last words to her. His grief and love had shrouded and destroyed and made the dark angel's deed all that more horrendous.

Time ticked forever and she dreaded what the morticians would do to her. The ghosts had always bitched and moaned about being forced out of their shells and out into the open air by the chemicals, but Bella feared that she'd be stuck since she could feel her new fangs with her tongue.

 _Wait..._ Bella realized with a thrill that she could actually move her tongue. Somewhat of a twitch from her fingers still seemed impossible though.

"Hey Bells." A hard slap in the wood startled her. It was a big, boisterous voice and filled of such laissez-faire of her situation that it nearly drove her into a fucking blood rage. "We are getting out of here." Her wooden cage was tilted to the side and she rolled stiffly where her nose wacked the unforgiving surface.

 _I'm literally a fucking stiff. How charming._ Meanwhile the pain had merely dulled to a low roar. A finger finally twitched as she kept being jostled. _Better._

"I know everything kinda sucks right now, sweetheart. But you'll feel better soon, I promise." Esme's honey-sweet voice halted any of Vegetable Bella's ill-will.

Her right hand had full movement. She scratched the wood hard. It cracked and splintered and gave way until sweet cool air hit her face in merciful relief. Her throat began a terrible burn.

"Let us get you to one of my summer houses, baby, before we let you out. I have something that'll make you feel better."

Bella had full control of her upper torso nearly two hours later and it seemed as though the screams that had been suppressed were making up for lost time. They spilled out of her throat into hysterical sobs. Her eyes twitched and began to severely itch from tears that would never again fall. She was opening her mouth for another scream and oblivious to all when the lid to her box at last opened.

"Crikey! We have ourselves a real beauty here." Emmett tried a shitty Steve Irwin impression as she fell onto a concrete floor. "Weighing approximately 120-"

 **CRACK!** "Bella, there is food here when you're ready. We are right here if you need anything, okay, sweetie?" Esme somehow managed to be heard over Bella's enraged shriek and Emmett's cursing from being slapped across the face. But the shriek suddenly was cut short when a scent wafted and permeated throughout the small garage.

The newborn raised her eyes to see a large, fluffy bear prowling around the garage.

 _They trapped a **motherfucking bear** instead of just giving me a cup?_ The rational, still-human part of her whined while the rest of her was scurrying over the floor like a half-crushed spider.

"Why did Rose catch live prey, for the love of God?" Esme moaned.

"Because she loves me." Emmett sighed, his eternal grudges against bears still intact.

Crawling became so frustrating that rage, pure and unadulterated, pulsed through her. She pointed a finger at her food and growled.

What happened next had both of the Cullens in the room rising to their feet and running towards the newborn in alarm.

Maria tapped her foot in utter boredom as she waited for Bre's report on Jasper's little girlfriend. Things had been a tad tedious ever since she'd given the Volturi the slip in Montreal, and trying to win over Jasper and his coven was proving slow work. Perhaps she should take extra precautions on this operation to ensure her man never suspected any interference on her part.

He was, after all, practically impossible to lie to. A dangerous trait, but one that she had quickly adapted to in order for him to do her bidding.

She was _so_ close to getting him back.

"Mistress!" Bre scuttled through the doors to her office with dirt covering her designer clothes. The usually cool and ambitious vampire looked terrified yet excited.

A thrill went through Maria at the thought of something interesting happening _finally_. "You took out the girl? Is she alone?" If the coast was clear enough, perhaps she could teach this girl, who dared tried to take was rightfully _hers_ , a lesson.

Her subordinate took the tiniest step back from her. "The scarred one spotted me."

Everything went quiet for a moment while Maria's jaw dropped open. "And you _continued_ to come here rather than contacting me?"

She suddenly regretted recruiting outside of her own brood, but Jasper and Gabi were the only mature ones left in existence. And Bre had seemed the perfect idiot to throw at the Volturi once they came sniffing. Power-hungry and not amazing at masking her intentions, the younger vampire had seemed like the ideal lackey.

It was getting so tiresome being wrong.

"Did he follow you?" She kept her voice calm and reasonable, yet the idiot still backed away as if sensing her malicious ill-will gathering into a maelstrom within her.

"... No. He walked back into the mansion where they're holding the girl you wanted wacked." The girl pouted but still her hands were shaking with excitement. "May I kill him, Mistress?"

She tried her best to disguise her snort at the thought. "As tempting as that is, I can't let him catch you and make you squeal all of our secrets."

Bre was then sent into the wall with a single punch from Maria. The concrete walls crumbled and all of her brood quickly flooded into the scene, their fangs flashing with surprise at seeing their Mistress at work. The smaller vampire quickly landed on top of her prey and immobilized her in a simple hold.

Her hands had just begun to twist at the base of the neck when a breathy, familiar shout interrupted her. "Mistress, please wait!"

She froze in the nick of time, her bloodied eyes jerkily searching for her seer. Was there an unforeseen consequence to killing this one? "Gabi, where are you?"

"Over here."

The hair on Maria's back rose as she realized that the reply had been given in a much deeper voice. _Fuck_. "I see that I'm caught." She slowly rose, continuing to squash the bug underneath her heel in a precise jab. She plastered her best winning smile on.

A dark figure walked slowly toward her through the fog. Broad shoulders, narrow hips... Maria tried her best to keep her eyes on the man's face as _he_ revealed himself to _her_. He had never liked it when she objectified him.

With that ass, it was nearly an impossible task.

It took entirely too long for her to notice that he was carrying a howling Gabi by the scruff of her sweater. "This yours?" Jasper growled, revealing sharp fangs as all of her newborns dropped to the floor and began whimpering in pain.

"Might be." Joy, visceral and all so _real_ , hit Maria at seeing her favorite toy in front of her again. "You come to play, sugar plum?" Bre still squirmed underneath her heel.

Jasper casually flipped Gabi into his arms. He completely ignored his former lover and focused on the crazy lackey. "Does she hurt you?" The murmur was low and hard.

The girl whimpered and looked away from him. As though she wanted to be anywhere but in the large vampire's hold.

"I see." He sat her down carefully. "Don't turn on me and I'll free you."

The traitorous seer nodded and crossed her arms while shivering like a pathetic little rat. Maria's eye twitched in utter impatience as she realized that her right-hand man had already managed to turn her most loyal compatriot. "It isn't right to lie, Jasper. Gabi, this man has killed more of my children than I've ever dreamed to."

Jasper cracked his shoulders in a very human gesture before rolling his sleeves up. "I left you alive, Maria. You could've stayed that way if you'd just let things lie."

She barked out a surprised laugh despite the wave of unease sweeping through her. The rage that Jasper was emitting pulsed throughout the dusty warehouse. "Darling, there's no need to get violent. I merely missed you is all."

It was extremely pleasing to notice her Children slowly encircling them, prepared to swarm on her aggressor at the mere twitch of her right hand. But it would be such shame to kill the man she'd been craving to possess for centuries.

"If that's all you wanted, then you sure picked the dumbest way to do it. _Why_ , _Maria_..?" He bit the words out with flashing, enraged eyes. "Why'd you send your pet to kill Bella Swan?"

It was impossible to lie to him. Damn it to hell, but the insect beneath her heel had ruined _everything_. She kicked a hissing Bre to the side, her eyes focused on the only true threat to her existence. She gave up on trying to control Jasper cleanly — now it was up to the tried and true formula of cold, hard manipulation.

"You're too close to those human girls, Jasper." The tiny, petite vampire shrugged prettily at him. "I was just saving you time by killing them. It just so happened that the bigger one was more accessible than the other." She didn't dare use their names in fear of invoking the hatred and jealousy that she felt. "Vampires and humans have a very simple relationship: predator and prey."

"Who've you got after you, Mistress? What's got you all frazzled?" Jasper took a small step towards her, not bothering to hide his disgust of her. "What has you harassing me and my family?"

She couldn't help the hiss that escaped her. "Don't forget all that animal blood makes you weak, Major. _I'll gut you_. All I was trying to do was a favor for you because you've always been my favorite." No effort was given to stop herself as she took the time to suggestively eye the man up and down.

A wicked grin hit her lips involuntarily.

The mood in the room took a nosedive as suddenly all of the newborns collapsed to their knees in pain. Drew, a handsome young man who had dared to wink at Maria a month before, screeched inhumanly. It appeared as though her second-hand man hadn't spent his time in retirement neglecting his unique gifts.

Within a fraction of a second, Maria found herself ducking as a muscular arm attempted to punch through her skull. A delicate twirl and block of her arm stopped the next attack. She grinned even as her calf cracked from the impact.

"Oh, finally, here's what I missed!" She couldn't help her gleeful taunt as she achieved a simple claw to his eye.

Their strikes reverberated throughout the room while the newborns continued their painful writhing. And Gabi watched in stunned silence. Sure, she'd seen her Mistress in action, but never quite like _this_.

It was normally over in an instant.

The strange man who'd made all the screams go away from her head was easily going toe-to-toe with Maria. He had scars just like Maria, only _more_. She'd seen many other vampires in her nomadic lifestyle, but never so many scars. It reminded her of the first person she'd eaten after Maria had turned her in that hospital, a patient who'd acted as if he had known her while she'd been human. He'd had as many scars as this stranger, only from his own fingernails.

If she hadn't been so hungry, perhaps she could've learned who'd she'd been before she was a monster.

The loudest crack finally snapped Gabi from her own world as Maria's ruby, almond-shaped eyes met her own. She was on her knees with both arms removed, so bloodless as was the way of vampires, and a rueful smile on her lips let Gabi know that Maria was probably thinking about waving goodbye. But then that second of connection was over and gone.

Maria, the oldest and strongest vampire of the Southern Vampire Wars, was beheaded.

The wickedly handsome killer wordlessly stood among all that remained of the Mistress's legacy. The newborns slowly regained themselves and stared at the man, and Gabi found herself stumbling to join them.

Being imprisoned for decades had a way of making a girl sensitive to such events. Would this Jasper be even worse than Maria?

Imprisonment and torture wasn't unusual among vampires. They certainly hadn't been the worst off of covens.

Jasper scratched his head even as he reached into his worn-down jeans and produced a generic cigarette lighter. "Before y'all fall onto me and try to take me down, would anybody like the honors of lighting the fire to get rid of her?"

"Wow." Bre whispered as the newborns chattered excitedly all around them. Gabi hadn't even realized until then that the cruel idiot had stuck around.

A vision hit her then and suddenly an evil plan formed in the strangest place from her heart. Bre had been very evil towards the newborns and was always plotting to take advantage of Gabi's gifts. "You better leave, he's going to kill you for breaking that human." Gabi told her.

Bre shook her head and began moving before Gabi had stopped speaking. "Thanks, smell ya later, freak." She left in a dash.

Gabi giggled as she thought about the silver wolf waiting outside the door for her.

Lauren moaned and licked at the floor, enjoying every drop of blood that she'd gotten from the man's gut wound. Sure, it was gross, but the Mistress hadn't lied to her.

This, _this_ was power. She could hear and smell everything and drinking blood felt so good. Nobody would be able to stop her from taking what she wanted. Once she got on top of her new gifts, she'd return to Forks and rule over all of the humans.

Rampaging was so much fun, the Mistress had told her to go nuts and to return to the warehouse whenever she felt like it. No strings attached.

 _She was so free._ She'd received immortality for luring Bella to her party. Two birds with one stone. Was there _any_ downside to this situation?

"Eeeew. Nobody has taught you to feed properly, huh?" A high-pitched, bitchy voice, very similar to her own, commented.

A growl ripped through her frame as the stranger made a condescending _tsk_ with her tongue. "You're going to be pretty much helpless with how much you glutted yourself. Not very promising for when my Masters get a hold of you." A petite hand touched Lauren's cheek as she continued to feed without restraint.

Jane cackled as the newborn lost consciousness.


	20. Cleanup

"What in the hell are we gonna do with these newborns?" Emmett stared at the dirty, lackluster group as Rose and Jasper were moving in fast synchronization to remove all traces of vampirism from the warehouse.

Drew, the one who'd served as the spokesperson for the newborns for the most part, eyed them suspiciously while he spoke in hushed tones to his peers.

"Don't worry, Em. I know how to deal with 'em." A primarily quiet Jasper offered. He threw a bloodied board to the evidence pile, which he would provide to a well-connected Carlisle later. All pieces would be catalogued and examined for DNA and then all pieces destroyed. All families would be notified of their loved one's demises.

All with fake stories of course, but at least they would stop _looking_.

"I'll take care of the ones who need somebody." Gabi was sitting in her own corner, her eyes clear and bright. "Keep 'em out of trouble."

Jasper eyed her. "You're pretty confident about being able to keep them safe."

The long-limbed female shrugged daintily before standing. "Did Maria ever keep someone useless around?" She wordlessly gestured to the newborn group and roughly half automatically stood and surrounded her. Drew notably remained behind. The group then proceeded to make its way out of the warehouse. "Thank you for your help, guys. _The forgetful will remember so you should probably look for your coven-mate instead_." The seer turned around and winked at them.

They were all gone in the next second.

Rosalie's eyebrow twitched even as she threw half of a bloodied car to the evidence pile. "What a cryptic weirdo."

Emmett chortled even as he upended another board. "You're telling-" Suddenly, his giant frame froze over a particular piece of debris. "Why do I smell Edward?"

Jasper was by his side in an instant, as he'd been frozen in place since Gabi had spoken. "Fuck me, we forgot about Edward." He upturned the rubble and picked up a burlap sack at an arm's length with a pained look on his face.

Rosalie snatched the bag from Jasper. "Putting him back together is going to be such a pain. I'll take him to where Bella and Esme are."

Gabi's words made so much sense all of a sudden. Jasper's face broke out into a smile once the implications hit. That woman had been just like his Mary.

And Gabi just told him that his girl's memories would come back.

The look on the man's face was beginning to get on my nerves. "And how does that make you _feel_?" His spectacles glinted from the overhead light in the office, and I could practically sense Charlie's annoyance mirroring my own. The therapy sessions that had been recommended for us had really been a drag, particularly as the therapist didn't seem capable of retaining _anything_ that we were telling him.

A sigh took over my entire frame before I exhaled in a slow show of indifference. "I obviously can't _feel_ anything about someone that I don't _remember_." I shot an apologetic glance at Charlie, the man who everyone kept telling me was my father.

He didn't look upset with me. The bags under his eyes and gauntness of his face had been there when the supermodels had handed me off to him. Charlie, as Carlisle had warned me, was just incredibly sad that his daughter, _my sister_ , was murdered by the hands of a sadistic serial killer. It once again reminded me of those dramas on TV where everything was as messed up as possible.

How much of this was real? Because it all seemed like a sick joke. All of these strangers kept grabbing me and crying and telling me how sorry they were. And while I didn't know why they were all so sad, this thick heartache consumed me sometimes.

"Just give her time. If she shows any signs of progression or regression, get her back in here." The therapist droned before handing Charlie a fancy-looking card.

" _Gee_ , thanks so much." Charlie muttered even as we both started walking out of the office in relieved unison. My father began to move faster than I had ever seen him thus far, grabbing my hand and almost dragging me when the cool receptionist tried to flag us down for our next appointment. Rain poured down on us. Some girl named Angela had told me that Forks was kind of famous for its lack of sunshine.

It was only once we were in the shiny police cruiser that I finally found my words. "Was the therapist not your idea?"

Charlie closed his eyes with a long sigh as if his eyes hurt. As though some form of brightness was impossibly filtering through the rain-soaked windshield. "Ma-" He stopped before he spoke the name that sent chills down my spine. "Alice, your mother is coming for the funeral and I'm trying to up my odds."

"Odds on what?"

"Keeping you here." Charlie rested his head up against the steering wheel. "She'll get you on pills or in a nuthouse as soon as you get back in Phoenix."

Confusion hit me. "But none of that will make me remember."

His bloodshot eyes hit mine. "I'm not looking forward to that, kid. You remembering, I mean. She was your _best_..." His eyes shone as he stopped speaking for a second. He looked away. "Your best friend."

My heart beat a little unsteadily as I nodded. It was probably true, why else would I not remember at all? I must've loved her a lot.

The rest of the ride went in silence. Even the rain had stopped as though it had sensed that we really needed the stillness of the moment. There wasn't really anything left to say except I couldn't help but think that Bella and I must've had the best dad in the world. Maybe I should've told him that, but it was kind of hard to tell someone that if you didn't actually remember.

"Huh." Charlie pulled the cruiser next to a real fancy car in our driveway. He looked as craggy as ever, but he glanced down at me pensively while looking slightly torn. It seemed as though the thoughtfulness eventually won out. "Alice," He started off, finally using the name that didn't send shivers down my spine. "There's no point of you sitting around here grieving when you don't even remember what for. Would you mind hanging with your friend here, get out of the house a bit?"

 _My friend?_ I wordlessly nodded at my father as I unbuckled myself. Charlie was already out of the car, talking to the gorgeous, very male supermodel who I hadn't seen in several days. He was nodding a lot, his golden eyed soft on Charlie while he self-consciously ran a hand through his wavy hair.

"Take care of her. Keep her away from all the crying crazies that keep grabbing at her or call her by the first name. Freaks her out and she blows a fit really bad." Charlie absently kissed me on the forehead before then stumbling into the house. The porch door slammed shut.

That inexplicable sorrow suddenly threatened to swallow me whole for some reason. Trying not to let the tears escape, I instead focused on the stranger who was peering down at me solemnly. "Who are you?"

"Jazz. You woke up at my family's house." He reminded me before wiping his face clean with a brilliant smile that stole my breath. "How're you feeling?"

"Just... confused." His eyes never left mine as I spoke, and it was more than anybody else had been able to do in the last few days. It made me want to trust him. Everything that had been brewing up through all of the doctor visits and therapists finally seemed to catch up to me at that moment, causing me to throw my arms around the tall stranger.

His skin was cool, but still managed to make me feel better. "What was my sister like?" I murmured into his shirt as the tears soaked it.

He crushed me to him with a single arm, using his free hand to smooth back my hair soothingly. "She was a little moody, pretty funny, and really smart. You guys were best friends." His sexy country accent was suddenly very thick.

"You're smooshing me." I teased even as I kept crying for some ghost of a girl who I didn't even remember. His arm automatically loosened to almost no pressure.

We stayed like that until a shiver finally ran through me from the cold. Jazz chuckled into my hair. "C'mon, sweetie. Let's get to my house, Rose and Em are just dying to see you."

He then steered me into that really nice car, and once again, I found myself being driven through streets that gave me a terrible sense of deja vu. "How long have we been friends, Jazz?"

A smile quirked his lips which once again made me feel as though I were forgetting something really important. "A few months now. You kind of pushed the matter."

"You didn't want to be my friend?" A little hurt hit me at the thought.

He laughed. "Nah, baby, I was just a little spooked at how weird you are."

I pouted very decisively until we pulled up to the overzealous mansion surrounded by masterful landscaping. While the arrangement of all of the shade-loving plants distracted me, Jazz managed to grab my hand and steer me inside.

 _It's like he remembers just how to handle my fits._ My eye twitched in irritation. I was getting pretty sick of being out of the know, even if the therapist thought my amnesia was protecting me.

"Mary!" The beautiful blonde supermodel crushed me into her arms and twirled. The room spun.

A giggle escaped me despite the fact that the supermodel had called me by _that_ _name_ , the one that I couldn't identify with no matter how many times someone called me it. "It's Alice, please." She put me onto my feet, allowing me a view of the pristine living room and a smiling Carlisle.

He'd been the one to take me to Charlie, to explain the way of things. He was the best doctor in Forks.

Jazz is his son, although the ages don't look quite right. Carlisle has a wife, Esme, who I hadn't met yet. And another son.

"Rose, could you show Alice the cookies that Esme wanted her to try out?" The doctor smiled at us even as Jazz ruffled my hair before approaching his dad and whispering something in his ear.

Rose grabbed me by the arm and steered me away before I could figure out what had made Dr. Cullen's expression turn so scary so fast.

"What do you mean, _the Quileute_ is still on our land?" Carlisle growled at Jasper in an uncharacteristic show of aggression.

The taller male frowned down at his leader, clearly annoyed at his reaction. "She lays claim to Bella and wants to see her." He shrugged. "I don't see what harm it would do; the shapeshifters don't smell even remotely edible to us."

"The problem is that she keeps breaking the treaty. Those dogs are dangerous." Carlisle muttered as they both heard Mary squeal in delight after eating the first of the cookies.

"Technically, _I'm_ the one who broke the treaty by changing Bella." Jasper pointed out. "Leah has not retaliated or shown any indication of breaking the treaty. She even helped us out by finding Maria's hideout."

Carlisle turned his back from Jasper, the tension still present. "Do what you will, _son_. But Maria being so close makes me think that Forks might not be the safest place for us right now."

A ring of forewarning rang down his spine at those words, but he proceeded out to the woods nonetheless. Mist swirled around his ankles from the last rain, but now that he was used to her scent, it took little effort to find the tall, lean female waiting for him.

"Will you tell me where she is now?" Leah bared her teeth at him in a gnash of vicious white. The long wait of Jasper making sure Mary was safe and convincing Carlisle to not act like such an ass had obviously taken its toll on her.

 _The week since Bella had been bitten must've been excruciating._ The empath could feel her crankiness, her hope, and the rage that never seemed to abate. "Yeah, let me call Esme and let her know that you're coming." He sympathetically patted her shoulder, not minding when she shrank away from his icy skin.

Leah Clearwater had quickly become one of the few people in Jasper's life who he felt actually understood his view on things. In other words, someone that kicked ass and asked questions later.

"They're ready for you. Try not to make Emmett's day too fun." Jasper began to head to the house, eager to figure out when Mary would come back to him.


	21. Reunions

Leah stared at the little cottage in the woods as she slinked on all fours as quietly as possible. A tired fog reigned supreme in her head. It'd been several days since she'd slept and only a day had passed since she'd sensed that Bella wasn't actually dead. The revelation still sent tremors down her spine.

She was just been about to phase back to human when the annoyance of her life suddenly went wolf. _Where the hell are you?_ Sam whined.

 _Fuck off._ She sent the image of a middle finger to him to distract from her location and then phased. The she-wolf got dressed quickly with shaky hands and did her best to comb through her short, thick hair with her fingers. She wished that she'd had the forethought to bring a comb and deodorant, but the last couple of days had been far too unpredictable and hellish on her mind for that to be the case.

 _What would she be like now that she was a vampire?_ Ever since Leah sensed that Bella had been bitten, she'd found that the sickly sweet scent and disgust that she'd held for vampires had long dissipated. She didn't think that she'd ever be skipping and holding hands with just _any_ vampire, but she'd be able to more than tolerate her imprint. Bella.

But that didn't mean that Leah didn't have her doubts.

 _Oh please let her be a vegetarian like the Cullens._ She prayed. No matter the draw that she felt, there was no place in her heart for a murderer. Jasper had told the she-wolf plainly that her imprint would have urges, and that terrified her.

She didn't dare think about the Council or what her family would think about the situation. It was lucky that she had such a talent for hiding her thoughts and had the power of the Alpha command on her side or Sam would've already snitched. They all just thought that she was avoiding the male because of their past relationship.

Leah leaned against a tree and took a giant breath to calm her heart. _She_ would hear it and there was no way in hell that she was going to make her imprint nervous.

Once she was fully in control of herself, she forced herself to walk almost robotically to the ornate, hand-painted door and knock. Within two seconds, the door opened to reveal a large, muscular chest, which was an odd view for Leah, who typically was as tall as any male.

A whistle assaulted her sensitive eardrums. "Well damn, Jazz really wasn't lying that a mutt would be visiting." Emmett Cullen grinned down at her as though his mortal enemy was just what he needed to shake up his undead existence.

Leah tensed, summoning all of her willpower not to snark back at the vampire who could stop her from seeing Bella. "Yeah, if it's not too much trouble." She refrained from spitting out the instinctive _leech_ at the end of the sentence and did her damnedest to look relatively harmless. The imprint bond pulled at her in sadistic bouts of punishment at such close range and it caused her fists to clench. Hard enough that her fingernails caught into the skin.

The big vampire stared at Leah's hands for a moment, grinned, and raised his eyebrows. "You best stop that unless you want diced up by Bell's claws. She's refusing to feed and has been giving us a helluva lot of trouble over the past couple days." He stepped his massive body out of the doorway and beckoned the she-wolf inside.

The werewolf cautiously followed Emmett into the homey, airy cottage that actually didn't seem too dissimilar to her family's house at LaPush. _If_ Sue Clearwater hit the lottery and decked the place out with only custom-made furniture and appliances. But it wasn't the decor that wrapped up Leah's attention as her imprint's frustrated voice rang down the hall.

"You can't just keep me prisoner here!" Her disgruntled voice, so different yet still familiar, now held the melodious undertones that all vampires possessed. It was also beyond obvious that the newborn was _not_ happy.

Emmett and Leah rounded the corner to see the motherly Esme cross her arms and stare down at a scowling, brunette beauty with ruby eyes and snow-white skin. She was wearing a plain, tattered Metallica tank and black shorts. The outfit was very Bella and the odds that a vampire had broken into the Swan residence to steal some personal belongings seemed fairly high.

"Yes we can and we will." Esme spoke the words coolly and calmly. "How would you feel if you hurt someone, Bella?"

The brunette grasped her head in her hands and groaned in frustration. "Why can't I just stick to the blood bags, Esme? I'm starving and-" Bella froze as she suddenly realized that they weren't alone. Ruby eyes froze on Leah and an odd expression crossed her face. " _Leah_? Leah Clearwater?"

Emmett stepped up as though he was a referee for the newborn's outbursts. "Surprise, Bells! You have a visitor."

" _Get her out of here before I drain her dry_."

Leah bit her lip in trepidation as her imprint was abruptly up against the opposite wall, as far from her as possible. She was so absolutely still that she looked like a statue. "You can't really drink from me, Bella. Go on, breathe."

The girl shook her head while her jaw set into stubborn lines. She glanced at Esme with pleading eyes as though asking the vampire to somehow help get rid of Leah.

"It's true, Bella. Leah doesn't smell like a normal human and we are here. We won't let you hurt her." Esme did her best to sound soothing.

Bella slowly moved herself off the wall, her eyes never leaving the werewolf. Her eyebrows rose after a second. "You don't smell like anything special." Confusion went over her face and she continued to stare at the taller girl as if she were some puzzle to be unraveled.

A few awkward moments of silence passed.

"Well, squirt. If you want me to get rid of her just let me know." Em ruffled Bella's hair in a brotherly fashion before exiting the room with a smiling Esme.

They both looked very cheerful, as if babysitting a brooding newborn vampire wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Meanwhile, Leah was panicking. _What in the hell do I say? 'Hey, I'm kind of in love with you and it's totally okay that you're a bloodsucker. By the way, I turn into a literal bitch and my family is soo going to hate you.'_ It was awkward and horrible and she felt so awfully overwhelmed that tears were in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Her imprint asked. She'd finally taken several steps towards Leah as though she felt the connection too. Her hand reaching out for her. As if everything were normal and they were just two girls trying to figure everything out.

Bella was looking at her with such genuine concern that she huffed out a surprised laugh. "I should probably be asking _you_ that."

Finally, the newborn vampire smiled and completely relaxed. She plopped onto the sofa in a sprawled mess. "I am so not okay. I hate drinking blood and I'm always thirsty and I'm a freak even by vampire-standards. I can't even pass out at night anymore to get away from it all. It. Blows. Charlie and Mom must be besides themselves. Edward's recovering here and now I'm going to have to be near that freak for the rest of eternity. I didn't even have enough time before I died to break up with my girlfriend. This is all so fucked up!" Bella's eyes narrowed at her. "And God, why don't I want to eat you? Why are you all 'in the know' about all of this?"

She chuckled and found herself gracefully folding onto the floor. "I'm kind of part of the whole supernatural thing, and I wanted to check on you. Jasper vouched for me to see you... It's probably for the best if that's all you know for now."

The smile vanished from Bella's face in an instant. "If you talked to Jasper... have you seen my sister?" She whispered quiet enough that the other vampires in the house wouldn't be able to eavesdrop. "They won't tell me anything."

Leah felt her stomach drop while a newfound fury took over her. Obviously, Jasper was so preoccupied with Mary that he was hardly focused on the girl he'd Changed. If Mary wasn't a complete amnesiac, then she would've torn the inconsiderate bastard's innards out herself. She'd spent enough time with the Swan sisters when they'd been kids to know the strength of their loyalty for one another. For the Cullens to decide to interfere with the sisters' ability to care for each other was _wrong_.

On that thought, Leah _knew_ what she had to do; A wolf, after all, always became what her imprint needed.

"All I've heard at LaPush is that Mary is physically okay." Leah murmured quietly, aware that the vampires would hardly appreciate her interference. "No one knows how, but it seems like she is having problems remembering things. Charlie's taking care of her."

Bella jumped onto her feet, her beautiful face wild with worry. "What can she remember?"

She flinched, but she couldn't lie to her. "Nothing. Not even what your guys' mother looks like."

"Fuck." The young vampire grabbed Leah's hand and hauled her off the floor. The movement had such strength in it that their bodies smashed together and their faces were mere inches away from one another. "We need to go."

"Where?" Leah tried hard to focus over the pounding in her ears. She was so close. Her face was so pretty and if she just bent a little then they could-

"I need to rip a deer's throat out, drink, and then we need to go see my sister." Bella was already dragging the she-wolf around by the hand, not checking to see if her captive was willing.

But Leah followed her with a huge grin on her face anyway.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Jasper was torn. Mary was happily humming while munching on cookies beside him, and he was in the horrific conundrum of his conscience.

She didn't know about vampires anymore. And a vision hadn't tormented her since her collapse. It made logical sense to flee Forks without breaking her heart or humanity or her pretty smile. In a cruel sacrificial swan dive, he could tear both his and Bella's hearts out and make sure that the light of his world didn't dim for another few decades or so.

He wasn't even sure Bella would be able to muster any control over her hunger in the next half-century. Would it be needlessly cruel to make Mary remember the sister that she could never hug again? Or could he work with his family to find a balance and keep everyone together?

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, Maria had been _so_ close and had left a trail of damn missing persons that practically screamed for the Volturi to visit. If the Guard were to come and evaluate the area, it was practically guaranteed that one of their talents would come sniffing around Forks.

Aro had a hard-on from Hell to get his pasty mitts on Edward.

"Jazz." Emerald eyes blinked up at him and suddenly any attempt of thought on his part evaporated.

"Yeah, darlin'?"

She swiped cookie crumbs off her face with the back of her hand before launching herself at him. Pretty, full-lips pressed against his own and Jasper couldn't of helped himself if he tried. He lifted the tiny human up by her waist and sat her on his lap. He would never be able to say no to her.

God knows he tried.

He could ignore the burning in his throat and all of the problems that were coming for him and his own as long as she always wanted him.

Because, amnesia or not, Mary was _his_.

He couldn't help a low moan in his throat as she rubbed herself against him and created a heat that threatened to eviscerate him. Careful, he had to be so careful not to squeeze her too hard. If there was one thing the girl remembered, it was how to kiss him. It was all the proof that he needed that she'd remember again.

It felt like agony when she pulled away from him with an adorable grin on her face. "Well, that was better than I thought it'd be."

Jasper felt his mouth quirk in a silly smug grin. "How'd you know that we were together, Alice? You remember anything, darling?" He couldn't help but feel hope that this was the time that Gabi had prophesied about.

"Nope." Her nose scrunched and she looked a bit sheepish. "I just thought it'd be fun."


	22. Threats

"Nope." I couldn't help the words flowing out of my mouth. Total verbal diarrhea. "I just thought it'd be fun."

The ridiculously hot boy -too tame of a description - man blinked at me with wide eyes. A million emotions crossed his face as if he were watching a movie or reading a book in the span of a single moment, like my words caved way to a secret enclave of information that he'd been searching for.

The moment broke when Jasper laughed and bumped his forehead to mine gently. "Alice, you're special to me. No matter how far down that head of yours takes you, I'll always find a way back to you." He cradled my face with his hands, and I once again got a terrible sense of déjà vu.

Tears clouded my eyes and I couldn't even verbalize why. I'd just been kissing a stranger who I'd thought was cute. That was all. Yet somehow he made it blatantly clear that there was so much of my previous life that I'd loved and it had been completely eradicated by the insidious static in my brain. It'd been beautiful and _mine_ , but now it was all gone.

"I want to remember everything so bad." I confessed in an anxious whisper, "There's this feeling that keeps haunting me, like it's trying to tell me something."

"I'll help you, but you've got to give me some more time, darlin'." He looked so determined and sincere that it was impossible to doubt him.

He wiped my tears away and coaxed me closer to him with gentle hands that were more persuasive than sweet talk could ever be. Warm lips engulfed mine and I was lost again.

It was a long time before we let each other go.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Edward Cullen stomped through the woods towards the family mansion in a complete and utter tizzy. His skin was still sealing together in cracks and fissures which grated against his sensitive and nearly steaming ears. What had healed revealed white, hideous lines that would send all other vampires into a complete shock that he'd actually been put back together again. They weren't bite marks like Jasper's scars, but were instead insistent reminders that he'd spent the better part of a month _stuck in a bag_.

It never would've happened if it hadn't been for his delinquent, immoral, _classless_ brother.

Throughout his extremely thorough and agonizing torture, the damn harpy had never let him forget that it was all solely to obtain possession of Major Jasper Whitlock's loyalty and love. As he had repeatedly been reassembled and dismantled, all Maria had been capable of was thoughts of Jasper and all of the misdeeds he'd performed for her. The endless sea of death and torture and servitude and debauchery that his supposed brother had dished out on behalf of the sick, awful devil who controlled every aspect of Edward's misery.

It made Edward Cullen regret the day that he'd ever seen the good in Jasper.

The coven belonged to him in a way that it would never for the others save Carlisle. It was he who warned them when they'd stayed in one area for too long and he almost never slipped from the diet. Unlike Jasper, whose flimsy control had threatened their family's very way of life and morals for decades. It'd been foolish of him to convince a reluctant Carlisle to accept Jasper into the family and it was beyond messed up that the arrogant man had the charisma to implant himself into the family much more efficiently than Edward ever had.

He continued his extremely loud trek through the woods before the house finally came into his view. With its prestigious pillars and elegance, he couldn't help but sigh his relief. It'd been absolute torture to withstand Esme's more adventurous cottage design choices. Sure, it'd been nice to allow the vampire to mother over him since all the others tended to be less sympathetic, but the tiny rooms and homey touches made Edward feel slightly queasy.

She was just about the only other of their family who he approved of besides Carlisle at this point. Rosalie and Emmett were just as about as shameless as Jasper was.

Edward finally quieted his stomps as he entered the mansion's front parlor, forcibly suppressing his rage as he felt his empathetic brother's presence. He could hear the fluttering, feathery heartbeat of Mary Swan and it took all of his willpower not to drive his fist through a wall.

"Son, are you doing all right?" Carlisle was by his side in a millisecond, concern etched into every corner of his face and mouth. His butterscotch eyes skimmed over him, only lingering on the white scars and gaps for the barest of moments.

He gradually relaxed his fist as the other man's thoughts, practical and wise, flowed over him. Carlisle was sure to understand his plight. "I just wanted to stay clear of the dog... Isabella hardly needs the stress at this point." _And he could hardly stand the fucking stench._

Carlisle's eyes narrowed in obvious irritation. "I tried convincing Jasper that it'd be best to stick to the treaty, but he insisted that we owed her a favor." He ran a distracted hand through his movie-star hair. "How is she coping?"

Carlisle's underlying bitterness that Jasper had disregarded his judgement in Changing Isabella did not escape his favorite son's attention.

Edward gave out a huff of laughter. It wasn't happy. "About as well I did in the beginning." He confirmed with an eye roll. "I can't read her mind like everyone else, but she refuses to hunt and struggles to conceal her strength. It'll take awhile before she can be around humans again." His chest secretly ached at the loss of her innocence and blood.

"Have you noticed-" The doctor's frown tightened in concern. "anything strange about Bella?"

"Not anything beyond typical newborn growing pains, why do you ask?"

"Esme called me begging to invite Eleazar to fly over and see the girl. She wouldn't tell me what happened."

Silence fell between them before Edward went stock still as though they were about to be attacked. He looked terrified. "For the love of God, don't tell me the girl is absurdly gifted right when the Volturi are going to be snooping around. As though Aro wasn't obsessed with us enough. The odds of me being a free man at the end of these six months are _already_ exponentially small."

They both conveniently ignored the fact that the ginger seemed more concerned about himself than Bella.

Bitterness gone, Carlisle had a look of hopeless despair on his face as he looked at his son. "It was all I could do the last time we saw the Guard to stop Aro from having you escorted away. And we face execution if we flee the area after so many newborns were Made. But you're right..." His face grew pensive. "Bella could see ghosts while she was alive. That alone will excite Aro, though I doubt the skill will be all that useful for anything except information gathering. Now seeing the future on the other hand..." He glanced speculatively over to the room where Mary's pealing laughter emanated from.

"It would be invaluable." Edward felt a twinge of inspiration through the fear as his father's thoughts took an identical direction as his own. "A trade of two for one? The family isn't all that attached to them yet."

It was only logical. What was a few months' acquaintance to immortals? It was inevitable that the others would be upset, but eventually all would be forgotten and forgiven.

 _I can't think of any other way to save you._ Carlisle confirmed mentally. He had the grace to look guilty, but as soon as he thought of Edward's fate, the emotion was buried.

 _And all we have to be able to do is to stop Jasper from interfering._ The ginger virgin was ecstatic when he came up with a nifty plan to rid himself of Major Jasper Whitlock for good. If there was anything that he'd become particularly adept at as a mindreader, it was manipulation.

Little did he know that the one exception to his ability had heard every spoken word of their conversation.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Leah suppressed a growl as Bella crept along the fancy-ass patio. She'd insisted that the werewolf stay out in the woods so that she could sneak into the house without Edward 'hearing' thoughts.

The gifted aspect of some vampires had been an unwelcome revelation, but she stayed back as far as possible in the woods and tried to keep her mind blank. A month of running in wolf-form with Sam had been great practice. In normal circumstances, the she-wolf wouldn't be able to let her imprint away from her side, but Bella needed her sister and so the drive to fulfill that need had literally tied her paws on the matter.

Besides, it seemed like a harmless enough request given that Mary was guarded by a very protective and scary Jasper.

Sun rays slowly advanced over the Cullen's well-manicured lawn as the cloud coverage broke. It hit a wide-eyed Bella even as she hugged her body against the white brick of the mansion. She couldn't help releasing a tiny huff of amusement as the rays finally reached her imprint's bare arms.

 _Bella looked like a disco ball._ The light danced against the white brick in a hilarious salute to the rain finally ceasing. Luckily for her, she wasn't near any of the windows and the reflected rays didn't travel far. It wasn't quite evident how they were going to see Mary, as Leah suspected that Bella's plan was to bust into the fortress and scare the living daylights out of her sister.

So due to the thoughtlessness of this plan, it surprised Leah when Bella turned back from the patio after about five minutes of playing sentry and sprinted past her.

The pure speed was faster than anything she'd ever seen, and it made the caution that the other vampires had been applying to Bella make more sense. It made her wish that she'd thought to ask Jasper more questions about newborns and what to expect.

Panic set in as she hauled ass as fast as she could through the trees and prickly underbrush at a breakneck pace. She was too fast, too strong to even keep within eyesight. Leah depended on her nose, determined to keep up. They were well past Forks at this point, and terror began to leak through her bones when the treaty line's all too familiar scent hit her nostrils.

 _Bella, NO!_ Leah howled internally. She wouldn't be able to take out Sam if he phased in, wouldn't be able to stop the small brunette vampire from harming a human without tearing her soul out.

The only saving grace was that her imprint stuck towards the ocean-side.

 _Fuck no._ The she-wolf dug her paws into the earth to stop from plummeting off the sharp cliff that fell into the sea. Her scent fell off in a jagged confirmation and the cracking in Leah's chest confirmed the worst of realities.

 _Her imprint didn't want her._ With little choice in the matter, the silver wolf curled into a ball and collapsed onto herself in despair.

•••••••••••••••

Jasper's handsome face seemed to dim a little when he walked me to the door. The day had already faded into a misty, crisp night, and the tiny half-sliver of the moon caught my eye as we walked from his seriously nice car to the less glamorous sight of the front porch. The moon reminded me of its strange ability to wane and wax, and all of its phases that were crystalline in my brain.

 _Of course, **you'd** remember something so worthless._ A strange mental voice berated me.

I frowned and couldn't resist the urge to defend myself to the pissy voice. _Well if you have time to insult me, could you fucking tell me what I've forgotten?_

"Hey." A cool hand pressed against the top of my head and succeeded in dragging me away from my internal catfight. "Chill out, little lady." It was easy to hear the smile in his voice.

Of course, he always knew when I was being weird. "How you know everything, Jazz?" I peered up at him while resisting the urge to hug him and plead that he not make me leave him for the night. Call me pathetic, but being around him for the day had settled me more than anything else anybody had tried over the past week. Him leaving me felt like cruel punishment.

His lips curled sexily as though he knew exactly how I was feeling. "Funny," he murmured wickedly slow, "but I always used to ask you that same question."

He looked around as if checking nobody else was around, and then he picked me up by the waist as though I weighed nothing to him. Tight against his body like he wanted me to remember every detail of him for the next decade. Then he kissed me.

If the other times that we kissed had burned me, this one engulfed me in lava. I gasped against him and did my best to hold my own. But before it could get any heavier, he put me down gently and held open the door. It was weird, but his eyes, typically a warm honey, had gone a dangerous black that sent shivers down my spine. "I've gotta let ya go for the night, darlin'." He said with sad twist on his face.

"All right." I leaned against him briefly and glanced at him one last time before finally entering the house. His car sped off in a great roar of sound that let me know that he'd definitely driven way more reasonably when I'd been a passenger. The thought of him wrecking had me frowning as Charlie absentmindedly greeted me from his chair in the messy living room. He looked pretty drunk and sad, and I secretly worried that leaving him alone for the day had been more than a little cruel.

I tried my best to shove all of those negative feelings away from myself as I tiredly got dressed for bed and plopped onto my comfy mattress. It always cheered me up to see the silly boy band poster directly above my bed, like it gave me a glimpse into the frivolous and carefree girl that so many people had described to me. After a few more minutes of this pointless brooding, sleep finally stole me away.

 _I kind of wonder what she was like..._ The last minute sentiment went by unappreciated. It was nice to finally stop thinking.

**Three hours later...**

Something feathery and soft hit my face, but it still forced me to groan and flutter my eyelids open like a groggy elderly person. _What the hell?_ I turned my face slowly to see a Pokemon stuffed animal that had definitely not been in my room before lying haphazardly over my pillow. Had that woken me up? It was almost like...

This time it was a rainbow-colored unicorn that hit me in the face. _What the fuck?!_ My heart sped up when my dumb brain finally acknowledged that someone was in my room.

"W-who's there?!" My voice shook out the question as the shadows danced onto my walls from my window. I frantically scanned for the serial teddy-bear thrower.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the perpetrator had glowing, red demon eyes.

A shriek rose in my throat as suddenly a familiar, inhumanely pale girl stepped out of the shadows. Her short, dark curtain of hair hung around her face like the Grudge, but it was the haunting fear on her face that really sold the nightmare.

I was so close to being able to make a sound when she finally spoke. "Mary, please _please_ don't scream." She whispered. "Dad will probably have a heart attack if he sees me."

The last part of her sentence somewhat echoed around me as I fainted.


	23. Vampirism 101

I awoke with my entire body rumbling and tumbling forward before uncomfortable straps at my abdomen and feet jerked and saved me from my fall. The gray, low nylon ceiling was a muted color from the tinted windows and the honk of a semi-truck horn confirmed that I was in fact strapped onto the backseat of a car. "What in the heck?" I groaned and cracked my eyes open slowly as a headache from Hell threatened to swallow me whole.

There was an opaque window between the front and the back of the car, completely obscuring my view of the driver's seat. Jerking myself upright and unbuckling the seatbelt at my feet, my heart began to hammer as I remembered the girl who had snuck into my room. Her blood red eyes reminiscent of a demon.

 _Try to remember, you idiot!_ That annoying voice tormented me as I artlessly tried to force open the door handle. As I kept trying, that voice got louder and louder until it was all I could do not to try and smash my head into the window.

 _Sh-She's going to kill me, so please SHUT UP!_ I berated myself. But the damn handle wouldn't give, so I eventually settled for crying hysterically against the door. It was exhausting to keep waking up in places where you have no clue what is happening.

"Calm down, you cry-baby." A female voice filtered through the car speakers and once again the girl's blood red eyes flooded my mind.

It made me freeze like some kind prey animal, like immobility would disable her ability to pay attention to me. It was only after I heard an unladylike snort and AC/DC music fill the car that I slouched over. What was the point of fighting for a life I couldn't even remember anyway?

Shame flooded me when I suddenly remembered Charlie and Jasper. They obviously cared if I didn't return, and it was really selfish to give up just because I didn't remember my worth.

The music stopped suddenly before my kidnapper chimed over the speakers once more. "I left some snacks for you under the seat, by the way."

Before I could respond in kind to that bizarre accommodation, 'Hell's Bells' cheerfully resumed its assault on my eardrums.

Freakishly enough, my kidnapper had selected snacks that sent my toes curling. Oreos with milk were amazing, and it took an embarrassingly lack of self-control on my part to stop once I'd demolished a sleeve and a half of them. It beat Esme's cookies or any other junk food that been supplied to me over the past week. The car slid to a stop once my belly began to protest my treatment of it and I was a carsick mess.

The disembodied voice then told me that she'd be dragging me out of the car momentarily.

At this point in my captivity, I'd calmed down enough to realize that somebody who'd introduced me to Oreos couldn't be all that bad. Or maybe I'd developed super-premature Stockholm syndrome and was being overly optimistic. The door clicked open, and instead of the dark tresses and red eyes that I'd been preparing myself to see, a yellow hazmat mask peered its way into the car. It looked ridiculous on the shoulders of the small girl and made her look like a human-sized bobble head.

"What the hell?" I stared at her, not quite able to make sense of what I was seeing.

"Trust me, it's better than the alternative." Her muffled voice came out dry even as she grabbed my hand and hauled me out of the car with a strength that startled me, "C'mon, we gotta get inside."

She began to tug me towards a dumpy motel that didn't look too sanitary. The sign that dubbed it the Knight Inn flickered in a stereotypical fashion and it didn't take a genius that my kidnapper had seen _waaay_ too many movies; this would be the first place the police checked unless she'd driven far longer than I'd realized.

The rented room wasn't a huge improvement from the outside with its dated wallpaper and a mildewy smell that made me yearn for the candles in my room.

A small grunt from the masked girl as she released me. "Here." Her white hand shoved into an unstylish basketball short pocket before she brought out a lighter. She then shrugged off a ratty backpack and produced a candle that I recognized from my collection at home.

"Um... thanks?" It was so strange to be thanking this oddly considerate kidnapper, but it was really all I could think to do. Despite the scary face that I knew hid behind the mask, the fear had abated to where speaking didn't seem so difficult anymore.

She cocked her head so that that the black, opaque eye-shield glinted at me. "You're welcome. Finding all these supplies in five hours wasn't easy, ya know."

"Supplies?"

A large sigh as though, of the two of us, _I_ was the unreasonable one. "Figuring out the location of a custom-car with a privacy compartment in Forks was impossible, I literally had to steal Esme's laptop and then run clear to Port Angeles. And don't even get me _started_ on the hazmat suit." She plopped onto the bed in a flop and started to promptly ignore me.

The scene looked so familiar... My vision reeled and spun and the only thing that really filtered its way to me was the sensation of my knees slamming into the motel carpet.

_"And then, Savanna went behind Kate's back and slept with Josh anyway." My mouth moved at hyper speed as I kept folding my laundry in a purple, flowery room that could only be mine. Energy, electric and jittery, sped through me and I was bouncing like a total spazz._

_A girl laid sprawled on the bed next to the laundry basket, her eyes glazed over and lazy as I kept blabbing to her. Her mouth quirked up occasionally, but it wasn't hard to tell that her attention was split._

_But I kept talking. After all, there were only so few people in the world required to put up with all and any of my bullshit, and Bella was my-_

I flickered back into the world even as I felt a cold, cold hand touch my face. The creepy mask looked down at me, but it no longer held together the indifferent facade that my captor had been putting between us.

" _Bella_?" I tried the name from that single memory - _my_ memory - and ventured to try and touch my sister's hand. "Is that you?"

The sharp intake of air through the mask was all the warning given as she suddenly grabbed me and crushed me against a hard, cold body. "Sissy." Shakes reverberated into my body as she started crying.

She sounded so young that it broke my heart into a thousand pieces. There were so many questions I had, but my instincts told me to return the hug and never let go until I was sure that she was safe. "It's okay," I soothed. "We're together, even if I don't really remember anything."

She pulled away from me slowly. "I thought you'd be safe if I stayed away. But those bastards left me no choice." Her words came out fast and hard and angry. "We trusted them. And now I'm dead and you have amnesia! What is this? An episode of _The Sopranos_?"

"Dead..." The jokes were lost on me as I gaped at her. "What do you mean?" I gripped her shoulder with my hand to stop her from moving further away. "You're standing right in front of me!"

She growled at me, a low sound that sent chills through me. She then caught my hand off of her shoulder and dropped it in cold rejection. "Don't _ever_ touch me without permission. It's not safe. And yes, I'm deader than a doorknob, weren't the red eyes and pasty as hell skin a giveaway?"

Tears threatened to spill as the silence grew between us. Was this a sick prank? Did some sicko kidnap me just to make fun of my dead sister's murder?

Fake Bella sighed as she collapsed onto the twin bed again. "Get some sleep, Mary. I'm sure as hell not ripping out an animal throat in front of you to prove a point."

I ignored that disturbing comment as I eventually settled on the creaky, uncomfortable mattress next to hers. My heart throbbed in slow agony until an impossible exhaustion overtook me.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

 _That could've gone smoother._ The world was still eerily bright in the dark motel room as Bella listened to the even, calm breathing of her sister. Hunger, bright and sharp, twisted her mouth and was embarrassingly enough making her drool venom; the hazmat suit had proved itself helpful, but it'd been beyond stupid to fetch Mary without it.

If she were being honest with herself, she'd taken the risk because she'd naively thought that seeing her face would've made Mary remember her.

But instead it had made her shake with fear. The damn mask hadn't even scared her that much in comparison.

Bella silently and effortlessly ran out of the motel room and into the bright night. The moon hung over and made the remote landscape stretch out into great expanses of trees and grass. Unlike Phoenix, this called out to her soul and cheered her up slightly from the situation at hand. A situation that left her and Mary teenage runways in order to prevent whatever the hell Creepward and Carlisle had planned to do to them.

The Volturi really didn't sound like a benevolent force, and she sure wasn't laying down to be the Cullens' bargaining chip. The fight for her freedom would be long and bloody and utterly inconvenient to those who wanted to crush her beneath their boots. And Mary, the real one who Bella knew better than herself, would want the same fate.

But it still hurt that Jasper of all people had betrayed them. She'd thought that he _loved_ them, that he'd been taking care of Mary while she grew accustomed to vampirism. Instead he was going to let his asshole family members bargain them to save their own asses.

The forest behind the motel finally allowed her to remove her mask and draw in a deep breath of air. She was finally far away enough to where human scents weren't taunting her into a blood frenzy, and she sure as hell had to be careful with Mary.

A scent caught her nostrils, and she was off. She'd bloated herself before she'd grabbed her sister, but she had to keep it up. Any aversion to hunting had disappeared when the thought of accidentally hurting a human hit her. Luckily, _it_ hadn't happened since that day Esme and Emmett has taken her to the cabin.

 _Why does it have to look like Bambi's mom?_ The mental complaint still didn't stop her from launching herself at the poor animal.

It was when she bit down into the neck that all hell broke loose.

The deer died a swift death, but it by no means had any clue that it had died. A beautiful, silver apparition, its blurry shape similar to that of the creature that Bella held in her bloody arms, kept running in ghostly circles around her. It shook the trees around her and caused them to drop decaying leaves in a veil of death. In the middle of spring.

Bella sat still for a long time, dismayed that her streak for no weirdness had been broken.

••••••••••••••••••••

Lauren stood before the Volturi Guard, her cheeks flushed from a nice human they'd supplied her with in return for cooperating. One of the Old Ones had touched her face, and had smiled a very creepy smile. Aro, the one who had touched her was named Aro.

Jane and her brother flanked Lauren's sides as if she could pose a threat to such powerful vampires. "Lord Aro, what would you have us do with the newborn?" The witch asked, her platinum blonde eyebrows lifted in dainty curiosity.

She instinctually tensed her muscles in fear as Aro, Caius, and Marcus eyed her with an attitude akin to someone looking at a goldfish. "The Cullens are playing their odd human charade in a pathetic little human settlement called Forks." Aro grinned a smile at Lauren as though he knew all her secrets. He let his words hang for several minutes. "Isn't that a little _too_ coincidental with so many nearby newborns running amok?" Aro finally asked in a shrill tone.

"Carlisle _dares_ break our rules?" Marcus asked. The faint thread of incredulity made it clear that he thought that unlikely.

 _The Cullens?_ Lauren almost slapped her forehead as all of the signs of vampirism flew through her head. She could've been their meal at any point in her high school career and she had foolishly been trying to seduce them? And now the promise of death in Jane's grip around her arm dashed any hopes of surviving through the day. The little blonde really hated her.

Immortality wasn't all that it cracked up to be.

Caius finally spoke up. "An investigation must be done before any hasty decisions are made. Maybe we will finally get the mind-reader out of this."

Aro giggled. "This little human showed me something a little more promising than dear Edward. A human that can drive a mind mad with a single touch."

 _Bella Swan?_ The memory of searing pain and losing all sense made Lauren steam in her grudge even as Jane tensed beside her.

Aro clapped his hands together in excitement. "That settles it, then! To Forks we go!" His bright red eyes slid to Lauren for a second. "Feel free to kill the girl, Jane. Untalented and ignorant newborns are below our interest."

Lauren didn't even get the chance to scream.


	24. Exiled

"You lost her?" Carlisle thinly veiled his rage as concern while Emmett and Esme looked perfectly distraught in front of the family. Poor Esme had been crying from distress until Rosalie had finally soothed her enough to speak.

"I-I was just trying to give them privacy." She stared at her feet as Emmett towered protectively over her.

He looked at Carlisle with an uncharacteristically straight expression. "Didn't really seem right to eavesdrop." He shrugged his massive shoulders in a hopeless gesture.

Edward primly lifted his eyebrows. "She's a _newborn_ ," he said patronizingly slow, "it is clearly vital you watch over her when new elements are introduced to her."

"Oh can it, Eddie, it's not like you were helping look after her." Rose snapped back promptly. Her blonde hair glinted as she flipped it in agitation. "It can't possibly be that hard to track down one girl. All of us need to calm down; it's hardly like she's helpless."

Esme moaned and then put her head in her hands. "Lord, I hope she sticks to her diet. If it's someone she knows..."

"It'll be all right, Esme." The blonde beauty rubbed her back. "Someone needs to call Jasper and make sure that he's got eyes on Mary."

"Oh for the love of-" Carlisle's mask of calm broke completely as the realization of possibly both Swan sisters disappearing hit. A tic in his face betrayed his agitation as Edward sagged against the wall and stared at the ceiling with black, dead eyes.

Emmett was already on the phone. It rang obnoxiously four times before going to voicemail. "Huh, he didn't answer."

"We could all hear it, you imbecile." Edward hissed.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Sam carried the despondent girl to the office building that housed many, if not all, of the administrative tasks of LaPush, kicking open the door with an impatient foot before apathetically dropping his load onto the carpeted floor once he reached the appropriate conference room.

Leah landed on her knees, dehydrated from a day on the forest floor and thoroughly miserable.

The Council members, her father included, stared at her with disappointment tattooed on their faces.

"Explain," Chief Black's face was thunderous. "why Sam has reported you to the Tribal Council _for_ _high treason_."

 _Funny that they believe **him** straight away. _Leah stared at them with desolate eyes, not really giving a single fuck about what was happening since the worst possible punishment had already been meted out; she had rejected her.

Big fingers gripped her face and Sam forced her to look up at him. "Tell them, Leah." His huge body began to shake as if he was about to go wolf any second. "You abused your position of acting alpha by ordering me to stay silent, but you're so damn weak right now," he lifted her up off her knees by her face. "that I finally broke it."

Leah just kept staring past him indifferently.

"Hands off my daughter, Uley." Harry Clearwater spoke quietly, his fury a silent thing.

Sam released her, his body heaving from the effort of not shifting. With noticeable effort, he straightened and addressed the Council. "Our worst fears have come to pass; Bella Swan is a newborn vampire and our treaty with the Cold Ones is null and void." He stopped speaking long enough for gasps to envelope the room. "Leah alpha-ordered me to remain silent and aided in their plot to steal a human life, and worse yet, I smelled vampire stench past our borders today."

Low murmurs, angry and numerous, rang around the room. Harry Clearwater looked like he was having a small heart-attack while Old Quil was bright red in the face. Billy Black rolled his wheelchair directly in front of the she-wolf to look down on her still-kneeling body.

"I will only give you this last chance to explain yourself, Leah." He spoke quietly.

Leah kept stoically silent, too far gone to even really hear her Chief.

Billy sighed and closed his eyes wearily. "The treaty has been broken by the very woman entrusted to Protect us and all of mankind from the threat of the Cold Ones." He stopped speaking for a moment as though it pained him too much to continue. Sam was practically bouncing on his feet in unbidden excitement. "I, Chief William Black, hereby strip Leah Clearwater of her tribal rights; she is banned from this land and its people for the rest of her days."

At this decree, murmurs overtook the room, many of the Council members looking sated in their indignity.

"No." Harry whispered, his face now ashen-white and petrified. "Billy, you can't do this!" His voice cracked on the last syllable; Old Quill had the grace to look slightly guilty.

Billy spared a sympathetic yet implacable glance at his friend. "I am Chief and this is just."

Harry gathered his head in his hands in despair as he continued to look unnaturally ill.

A growl suddenly split through the air and all heads turned way to the male shifter. He was pale. "I didn't smell it." He managed to say before the vibe in the room became too tense and thick with terror. Sam collapsed to his knees beside Leah, who still seemed impervious to any outside stimuli. "Can't shift." He rasped out to the old men, all of whom looked equally as helpless as himself.

The heavy oak door then flew off its hinges, obliterating the opposite wall and exposing the building's foundation and scarcely missing the conference table. All of the men flinched from the explosion of motion, but seemed unable to move from their spots.

"Well I say, Chief Black, your sense of justice isn't too far from good ol' Texas hospitality." A deep Texan twang taunted as a tall, lean man stepped into the room. Black eyes swallowed his face and twisted it to appear harsh. "Though Texans tend to turn that brand of cruelty on strangers rather than children that they watched grow up. With that spirit in mind, what sort of hospitality should I dish out to _you_?" Razor sharp claws shot out of his hands as he leaned against the shattered doorway casually.

Billy Black managed a loud gulp while Sam managed to force himself up and stumble a few measly steps towards the invading vampire. But it was to no avail.

Jasper cheerfully cracked him across the face with an open palm, sending the werewolf flying back into the destroyed wall. Sam didn't get up again. "Excommunicating one of your own for not enforcing borders you can't even really protect seems a bit hypercritical. I'm far from the most powerful monster out there." As he talked, he gathered the despondent Leah into his arms. "Now if y'all will excuse us, we've got some females to track down. Also, y'all might want to tend to your own, he's been having a heart-attack since before I busted in due to that awful ultimatum you've given him."

The fear released a select few of the Council and they all scrambled around Harry, who was sweating profusely and clutching his chest.

Leah stirred in Jasper's arms as the tall man turned his back on the Council and began to stroll out casually. "Dad." She peeked over Jasper's arm with wide eyes. But the rejected imprint swamped the stray emotion in a bout of punishment that once again had her eyes glossing over.

It sent the empath hissing through his teeth as he managed a burst of speed that left LaPush in a blur. "C'mon, fight it." He snarled as he sat her on the forest floor where he'd last found Bella's scent. The ocean crashed below them. "I need to know where those two went off to and why."

The she-wolf looked down at the scent trail and traced it slowly. Everything still hurt and she needed water.

Jasper sighed and grabbed the girl's face gently to make her meet his eyes, "Leah, Bella needs you; what'll happen if she accidentally kills her sister?"

It was as though a bucket of water had been thrown on her. "Bella... in trouble?" Her voice came out hoarse as sentient intelligence finally seemed to gain its hold on her.

The vampire nodded. "Tell me everything you remember before Bella plunged into the water away from you."

"We went to..." She closed her eyes in concentration. "your family's mansion to see Mary... Knew she was with you so I thought it'd be okay. Bella ran off before ever getting inside the house."

Jasper's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"She wanted to sneak," Leah explained. "I thought she was just waiting for the coast to be clear, but she froze on the porch for a long time before taking off."

The she-wolf stood up then, looking in surprise at her surroundings as if it was the first time she was seeing them. "What now?"

"I'm going after them; you're free to join." Jasper was already on his phone. "From what you told me, Bella took Mary after hearing something that scared her."

She blew out a breath. Past the irrational panic of the imprint bond, she could acknowledge that Bella had looked terrified as she ran. Bella didn't trust her yet so it only made sense why she had fled from her too.

Lord, but how much her life had become utterly fucked up within 24 hours was incredible.

There were only a few things she had to take care of, however. "Go on ahead, Jasper. I'll follow after probably after an hour." She tapped her nose to let him know that she'd track him.

The tall man nodded. "I'll still be in town. Gonna do some investigating to confirm a few things. We are just going to have to hope that Bella doesn't slip in the meantime." Ice cold words, yet the set of his jaw betrayed what the decision was costing him.

On that dark note, Jasper was gone. Which left Leah standing on her homeland. A place that she could never again return to. She stared at the ocean's crashing waves and let a single tear escape before she took off in the direction of Forks Hospital.

She owed her family one last farewell.

••••••••••••••••••••

Bella piled several goods in the car, slamming it shut as I watched. "Did you steal all of that?" Curiosity overtook me as I noticed that some pieces of clothing still had tags on them, with a bright pink shirt even having a plastic security clip still hanging off of its sleeve.

"Yeah, well we don't really have much of an option right now, with me wanting to eat everybody I see." She muttered, the damn mask muffling her words even further, "Had to hit the store before it opened." The Sun had finally come down again over the motel, and we were getting the hell out of dodge ASAP.

"You're a zombie?" I teased. She'd been in a better mood since I'd woken up, and had even been letting me take stabs at why my deceased sister had kidnapped me.

She looked at me and actually laughed. It came out a bit rusty. "That's actually the closest you've gotten so far. I think I like it when your gift is disabled."

"My gift?" I asked. She hadn't really told me much about myself before the 'accident', but she had told me that I hadn't changed all that much.

She laughed again and ruffled my hair, causing a strange lump in my throat to form. "Trust me, you'd probably be worrying yourself to death if that aspect of yourself worked right now. I think that's why you forgot everything; you're protecting yourself."

She then gently shoved me into the backseat and tossed me a bag of candy called 'Twizzlers'. I found myself staring at the strange red candy, peeling it apart with my hands and examining it. The car took off in an ominous lurch.

Just as I was experiencing the sugary awesomeness, Bella spoke over the speakers. "How great does Alaska sound?"

I swallowed nervously, thinking about a recent fantasy of sunbathing on the beach that I'd had. Wasn't Alaska cold?

"Do we have to?" I whined.

Static over the speaker as Bella laughed again. "Complaint heard. Upper Canada it is then!"

As we sped off into further and further into the unknown, a question occurred to me: _How did a deceased teenager get passports to go to Canada?_


	25. Tracked

"You're going to _run_ past Border Security with me on your back?" Mary asked incredulously. The moon cast shadows through the windshield, giving the sisters a clear view of the busy, industrial road that led to the Canadian border.

Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' played softly, but it did little to abate Bella's irritation. Mary had convinced her to let her ride in the passenger seat so she wouldn't be 'so lonely' and now was asking entirely too many questions.

As a result, she was now hungry and had been navigating interstate traffic with the damned mask on for the past hour. _You love her._ She reminded herself even as she patiently explained that she was in fact _faster_ than any car and quite capable of carrying Mary and any needed supplies over the border.

Her emerald eyes went wide at that. "Wooow. Dad told me you were a real klutz, so I guess whatever killed you made you some superhero, huh? Like Cat-woman!"

Bella stopped herself from braining herself on the dashboard as her sister's words sank in. "Wait," she moaned in exasperation, "you remember the Tim Burton Batman movies I made you watch, but you can't remember what our mother looks like?!"

Mary blushed. "It's not like I can control it." She muttered.

"I know." She pinched her nose in an Edward-inspired pose. "I need to do something before we take off on foot; stay here and don't let anyone into the car."

She got out of the van and locked it before walking inconspicuously behind the gas station. Thankfully, there seemed to be just enough shrubbery to hunt, but it was getting more and more difficult to find animal blood that wasn't just a bunny.

Killing 10 bunnies for a single meal was not at the top of Bella's list of things she liked to do.

Just as she was about complete with the grim task, the hair on the back of her neck rose and she dropped her query, which scampered off into the bushes to hop another day. _What the..._ A sweet scent, not at all appetizing but lethal in its message, crept over her. A vampire's scent.

Panic gripped her as she forewent all precautions; she crashed through the woods at full-tilt and back into the gas station parking lot. She hadn't even had time to wipe the blood off of her mouth or to right her clothes from the Peter Cottontail murders.

"Hello there, darlin'." The familiar accent belonged to a male vampire with silver blonde hair and ruby eyes a few shades darker than Bella's own. He leaned against the van's door, and Mary's small face peaked out of the window at her sister.

She looked scared.

Bella curtailed the newborn instinct to rip through the car door and tear into her throat; she hadn't had the time to recover from the bloodlust of hunting and the look of fear on a human face was a definitive trigger. She growled at the stranger, both frustrated and frightened.

He laughed at her. "Have no fear, I'm not going to hurt her. The Major would tear me into a million pieces." His gaze went over her and she suddenly felt as though she were being analyzed from head to foot. "Good thing I got the tug to find you before Jasper even knew to call, I don't really know how much longer someone as young as you could've lasted before glutting."

His words sent an ice bucket over her even as she struggled to hide it. "Wh-who are you?" She did her best to speak past the venom flooding her mouth.

"Name's Peter." He walked towards her carefully, not a care on his smiling face, "I'm here to help."

Bella struck when he finally got close enough. If she could just grab him and _squeeze_...

Her world turned upside down within an instant as the strange man pinned her onto her stomach, completely immobilizing her arms and legs in such a way where she couldn't exert her full strength onto her attacker.

The action drove every single one of her vampiric instincts into hyperdrive as even more venom filled her mouth and strange growls and hisses emitted from her throat. She bucked and did her best to escape, but it was futile.

 _Mary..._ Tears she couldn't spill choked her as she thought of how easily her sister could be killed now.

"It'll be alright, calm down." Peter soothed in his lyrical accent. "Charlotte! You finished tying Jasper's girl up yet?"

"Yes. Well, she is cute, isn't she? When he told us her hair was short, I thought she'd look a little more _boyish_."

The male vampire groaned. "For crying out loud, Char, how many times must I tell you that Jasper isn't a homosexual?"

"He came onto you, Peter, I know what I saw!" A tiny blonde, only a little taller than Mary, hopped out of the van and frowned down at the tangled mess of Bella and Peter. "He tried to take you from me and for that, he should burn in the fiery pits of Hell until he is dead." She finished her words off in a Southern flourish that would not have been out of place in an evangelical Church.

He laughed. "How'd he get to Hell if he wasn't already dead, doll?"

Bella gained more control of herself as the sheer stupidity of the conversation flowed over her. _These_ were Jasper's friends? It somewhat fit the bill from what he'd told her about Peter and Charlotte, and it made the burn of his betrayal hurt her even more.

"Can you get him on the phone, woman?" He impatiently interrupted his mate's rant about how, since vampires didn't have beating hearts, Jasper really was a _dead_ bastard. "I can't hold down an angry newborn all day, and he specifically said he'd be pissed if we harmed either of them."

"Fine!" Charlotte flipped out a phone and a ring went out for a bare half half a second before it stopped.

"Yes?" Jasper's voice sent a wave of anger over Bella, forcing Peter to tighten his grip on her when her body renewed her struggling.

"Could you help calm down the bigger sister? She is mighty difficult to contain and I'd be real grateful if I don't have to hold her for hours on end until you get here."

Bella couldn't help the hiss that escaped her mouth at being called the 'bigger sister'.

"Bell? Can you talk?" Jasper asked, his tone relieved.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." She ground out.

Static over the phone. "Tell me what had you taking off after you snuck up to the house that day. I promise, Bella, I would never hurt you or Mary, and I am going to obliterate whoever scared you this bad." He spoke slowly, making every word an oath.

She closed her eyes and tried her best to think it through. All of their conversations, how he looked at Mary, right down to the moment when he'd injected vampire venom into her veins and had changed her life forever... Edward and Carlisle might find it meaningless to trade in both Mary's and her freedom to ensure their own, but would Jasper? He always had the very same darkness that so many ghosts had about their lives, like he had to repent for terrible misdeeds, she'd known that from the very first time she saw him. Yet she still trusted him.

And did she really have a choice to _not_ trust him anymore? If she could get contained so easily by two vampires after only a few nights on the run, could she protect Mary until the danger blew over?

Closing her eyes and letting out a slow breath, she finally spoke. "I heard Carlisle and Edward talking... they were planning on trading us to the 'Volturi'. I don't know what that is, but it sure as hell didn't sound good."

Charlotte's small curvy frame stiffened within her peripherals, confirming that it was indeed a bad thing.

A few moments passed and she strained to hear past the static to discern anything happening on the other side of the phone. "Bella, please cooperate with Peter and Charlotte. They'll take care of you two until I can come get you." Jasper sounded nearly robotic in his cadence. "I shouldn't be too long."

The phone cut out, leaving the three vampires in utter silence.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Edward skimmed his fingers across the ivory keys, the chords flowing together elegantly to complete a difficult rendition of 'Étude Op. 10 No. 4' by Chopin. The grand foyer was acoustically perfect, and it served its purpose to make sure that every inhabitant of the house heard his finale. If he'd been human, his chest would've been heaving from the effort, but since he was an undead monster, he was left with nothing but steady hands and an aching heart. The exertion of playing such an impressive piece was one of the many experiences he missed most about being human.

He'd missed out on so much _life_ , and he was frozen permanently in the loss of it all.

When he'd first seen Isabella, he thought that perhaps some Great Change had come upon him and he would at last get to experience what had been taken from him the first time - but that had just been another dead end.

But the ennui of immortality still wasn't enough for him to willingly submit to eternal servitude to the Volturi. He'd heard the stories, the many covens that had mysteriously committed crimes in such a way that their talented members were conveniently forced to serve an impossibly long term in the Guard.

The thought of being surrounded by such sick minds and having Aro constantly touching him sent shivers down his spine.

"Son, that was beautiful." Edward startled when he realized Carlisle stood behind him, one of his medical books held casually open in one hand.

He must've been extremely distracted if Carlisle was able to sneak-

Jasper's thoughts, extremely controlled in a way he'd never heard from his brother before, washed over him. He stood instinctively, obliterating the keys unintentionally.

"Carlisle, for the love of all things holy, tell me that the family helicopter is here." His brother may be good at concealing his thoughts, but no one was that good; he had a month of Maria's whispering under his belt and actually now understood the monster that he had played house with for five decades.

His father's eyes widened. "Yes, but -"

"We need to go. _He knows_." Edward was already moving at full-tilt, grabbing his favorite CD and a change of clothes.

"But the others." Carlisle sounded distressed.

"No time." He grabbed his Maker and began hauling him towards the back kitchen exit that led to the helicopter pad. "He's almost to the house, we can get them later."

Sure, he wasn't quite sure that Jasper would let them live if he thought they were in on the plot, but it wasn't as if they had much of a choice. If grave harm befell them, then he and Carlisle could always just Make more strays since it had worked out so well the first time.

Besides, Rosalie was such an insufferable bit-

Edward's feet dug into the soft Earth when he saw the large silver wolf wagging her tail from atop the helicopter landing pad. She rested her giant head onto her paws and her tongue lolled out of her mouth as though she was just enjoying the sunny day and not guaranteeing their imminent demises.

"Fuck!" He couldn't help cursing, but made the logical decision to start charging at the wolf rather than confront the maelstrom of malice gathering at his rear. He was getting closer by the millisecond; any sooner and he would have to fight him while Carlisle dealt with the mutt.

"Well, if it isn't my dear brother and father on this fine afternoon." A deep voice rang across the lawn and followed by it was a walking Jasper. His arms and face exposed to the Sun so that his scars bent and twisted under the light in a frightening reminder of what he actually was. He tilted golden eyes their way and a charismatic smile stretched across his wickedly handsome face. "I must admit that ambushing a mindreader who _also_ happens to be a colossal piece of shit is the most tactical I've had to get in awhile. But while I expected this smarminess from you, Eddie, that you, Carlisle, would abandon everyone including your own mate to my tender mercies surprised me a bit; you had me fooled with the whole gentle doctor routine I suppose."

Carlisle looked faintly uncomfortable. "You wouldn't have harmed them. They are completely innocent in this situation."

Jasper smiled at him with a lot of teeth. "I'm not a good man." Dragging a pale hand out of his jean pocket, he held out a gleaming gold locket with the letters _C_ and _E_ on it. "Such an easy kill, she didn't present much of a challenge. Though she did yammer on about how much she loved you right before I yanked her damn head off."

The doctor backed a few steps away at his words, clutching his chest. "No, that's not true. That can't be true. My Esme..." Shaking his head, he groaned before the shock wore off. Unadulterated rage then twisted his handsome features into a feral look. "You monster!"

Jasper laughed openly as his former leader launched himself across the lawn toward him with his claws elongated and his fangs flashing.

Edward, mind racing as he took stock of the situation, raced adjacent to his father in an attempt to use the moment to escape. But wolf fangs buried themselves into his leg and held, tethering him to the spot where he witnessed a horrifically merciless scene where Jasper effortlessly twisted their father's head off.

"Now, brother," he looked up from his kill with a sickening serenity, "let's finish this the way all of this started: just the two of us. Leah, release him."

Edward ran as fast as he could.


	26. Family Values

_He had lied about Esme._ Edward ran as fast as he could, the trivial knowledge stemming from shock and his inability to shut down his telepathy. The cold hard thoughts of Jasper fed into his fear, and in the back of his mind he knew that it wasn't because he was manipulating his emotions; he was genuinely terrified of Jasper.

He hadn't been able to save Carlisle, hadn't even been able to shout out a warning that his emotions were being played so that his foster son could rip off his head. All because they'd intended to trade the Swan girls to keep the Volturi from forcing Edward to serve a sentence as one of their Guard.

He'd known Edward for decades, and _this_ was the way he chose to react over one little betrayal?

Righteous anger cleared Edward's head, even as he felt his murderous brother on his heels; luckily, he'd always been the tiniest bit faster than him or this would've gotten bloody fast. Where were the others? Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett surely wouldn't stand by while he and Carlisle were murdered, would they? Ironically enough, he would take the Volturi over the certain death now at his back.

 _Damn him._ His brother's thoughts were blurry, mostly just images of Carlisle's detached head in order to freak Edward out. He did his best to detach himself as his feet skimmed across the forest floor at hyper-speed. _Of course_ , that Godless monster had mastered guerrilla tactics that negate the advantages of reading fucking minds.

"You're being unreasonable!" He shouted out even as he scarcely dodged out of the way of Jasper's kick. The town of Forks through the trees was a disastrous barrier from freedom, forcing him to confront the Boogeyman in order to avoid the Volturi's ire. They would kill him for running through the human population in broad daylight.

Secrecy was the Volturi's main rule. They didn't give a shit if vampires discretely killed one another, but not even Edward's ability would be of enough value to atone for exposure. Only his death would.

"You're a damned hypocrite, Edward." Jasper expertly pinned the traitor to the tree with a single hand. That same hand then proceeded to squeeze hard enough for the marble skin to fissure even further from the damage that Maria had inflicted. "A little torture and all of a sudden you're ready to throw innocent girls to the wolves to save your own ass? I wouldn't have let them take you, I would've fought alongside you to the death because I considered you my _brother_." His voice cracked, betraying the pain underneath all of the rage, but his hand remained firm.

Edward's eyes bulged from the pressure, but he didn't fight with the imminent threat to his neck. He instead laughed openly. "Major Whitlock, I believe that I've heard enough about your past to know that every word out of your mouth is a lie. Sure, you think you're telling the truth, but if I really were your brother, you wouldn't pick those whores over me." He spit out spitefully.

The response was instant. He tightened his grip until his claws cracked into the marble skin and bone. Edward Mason Cullen's head was then severed from his body. He never lifted his eyes from his brother's during the process, ensuring that every instant of agony was imparted with a witness.

Blissful silence surrounded him for the next few moments as he released the body to thud hollowly on the ground. A fire was needed so that they wouldn't rise. And then he needed to rendezvous with Peter so that he could collect the girls.

But the anger and sadness didn't abate as he hauled the body into his arms, which reminded him of a time where he really had been the evil harbinger of death that Edward had accused him of. Time had changed him, yet it hadn't changed what had been done.

Losing Mary and Bella might be what he deserved. Their innocent lives had already been fractured beyond repair due to his presence, shattered and tossed to the wind like the ashes of all of his victims. He had to make it right, to not allow the monsters of the world to harm them.

Grief clouded his vision as he ran back to the Cullen mansion. He remembered Esme showing it to him the first time with such excitement and joy on her face. She had wanted their family together more than anything in this world.

He slowed to a walk once he hit the lawn. As he'd planned, the remaining members of his family had been preoccupied with hunting nearby and had only just arrived on the scene.

"How could you?!" A crying Esme struggled in Rosalie's arms as Leah guarded the remains of Carlisle with a cruel upper sneer to her lip. Emmett, beside the two women and appearing strangely lost, looked past the scene to see the solemn Jasper carrying Edward in his arms. Shock ran across his normally cheerful expression.

"A single wolf couldn't have taken out Carlisle and Eddie, huh?" He asked softly. The others followed his gaze and everything became frozen.

Rosalie kept her hold onto her adoptive mother as confusion took hold. Of the three, she looked the least grief-striken. "Explain, Jasper." There was a darkness in her words that emphasized the depth of loyalty that had always been an integral part of Rose.

If she hadn't always been closer to Jasper than Carlisle and Edward, then he likely would've been fighting off all three vampires while trying to escape. But as she held back Esme with ease and had explicit control over Emmett's response, he knew it was Rose that he had to convince. Despite everything that had happened, they were his family and deserved the unfettered truth.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the lighter that he kept out of habit. He then threw it on the grass between all of them. "I won't finish it." He announced while going against every instinct in his body. Leah growled quietly at him, but he ignored it. "Their fates are in your hands."

He walked directly in front of his family and dropped the body that was already attempting to seal with its head. Carlisle's headless body, despite Leah kicking his skull with her paw in a decisively sadistic manner, was crawling searching for its missing part as well. The view was an unsettling one, but Jasper knew firsthand that it was pure instinct and not intelligence that guided the bodies. Until they were put back together, his foster brother and father were in a state of merciful unconsciousness. "I doubt either of them would ever admit to it, but they cooked up a little contingency plan that drove Bella to run and take Mary with her."

Rose and Emmett exchanged a wary glance. Evidently, they'd been catching the same type of vibes from Carlisle and Edward that Jasper had as well. "What kind of plans?" She finally asked over Esme's cries.

"Leah, stop kicking the bastard's head around for a minute." He sighed. It was difficult to concede this much control of the situation, but he wouldn't lose his family if he could help it. It'd be easier to dismantle Carlisle again rather than Edward.

The she-wolf acquiesced with almost a pouty look on her lupine face.

He crouched and helped his foster father's body accomplish its task. Almost instantly, Carlisle Cullen fell to his knees and took in large gulps of air, adjusting to the newfound life in his limbs.

His pitch black eyes took in the sight of his disheveled family before finally settling on his mate. "Esme," He breathed in obvious relief, "you're okay."

The guilt that he felt swarmed into Jasper's body in a tidal wave. It pissed the empath off to no end because he knew that Edward and Carlisle had fully intended to leave the whole family to what could've been a dangerous situation. They were no longer men worthy of love or trust in his opinion. But it wasn't his place to judge.

No, he was the executioner. "Carlisle," He purred, "tell them everything."

••••••••••••••••••••

 _Vampires are real._ I practically bounced out of my seat as we sped down the highway at a reckless speed that once again reminded me that Bella was most certainly not driving.

Despite her vampirism, she looked slightly green in her seat beside mine. Her new mask that Charlotte and Peter had gotten her was now clear and more 'filtered' than her old one. They'd apparently vetted masks since they couldn't believe a newborn had been able to control herself around a human for so long. Charlotte had also ruined my sister's game by telling me all about vampires in a gory amount of detail.

"The sex is soo much better, so when Jazz turns you at least you have that to look forward to. I've always had this fantasy where Peter was the one to change me, so you are sooooo lucky. Killing people kind of sucks, but eventually you'll get used to it and only kill rapists. You'll stop feeling bad once the sex starts though." She continued cheerfully, causing Bella to sputter and start banging her mask against the door.

Peter hummed cheerfully under his breath. He was obviously more than used to his wife's musings. We'd been together for a day and a half, and the pair of vampires had succeeded in entertaining me for almost every second that we'd been together.

But still, being the only human in the car had its downsides. I bounced around in my seat again with increasing intensity. The undead might not need to take care of bodily functions, but I sure as hell did. I couldn't help but blush and hope that the van needed gas soon.

But of course my sister, who had calmed down substantially since they'd called Jazz, picked up on the slightest discomfort that I was showing. "Oí, Mary's got to go to the bathroom!" She called out, her voice echoing a little from her mask, "Can we stop somewhere?"

Peter good-naturedly stopped at a gas station, and my eyes went wide when I realized that I would have to go inside myself since the Sun was blazing. We'd turned around and had been hightailing it South ever since they'd found us. Charlotte shoved a ball cap into my hands and happily threatened to kill any human in the store that recognized me from an Amber Alert. Somehow, from that highly immoral statement, I got the briefest inkling that Jasper and Charlotte don't get along too well.

As I hurried through the store while keeping my head down, thoughts of the handsome man who'd kissed and held me pervaded. He'd been so hot and I'd get to see him again. Somehow, from Bella's reaction in the car, I didn't think that he'd Change me into a vampire as easily as Charlotte and Peter thought he would. From the brief amount of time that I'd spent with him, he'd seemed the protective type.

But God, was someone that handsome really mine? My heart tumbled and my stomach clenched just thinking about it.

The single stall bathroom left a lot to be desired and stifled any further thoughts on my extremely hot vampire boyfriend. Sighing, but accepting what I had to do, I shut the door and locked it. Only to realize that there'd been someone hiding in the corner in a stock-still pose.

A phantom of a scream rose in my throat, but somehow I let no sound out. Once again, an inhumanely pale girl with crimson eyes stared at me, only this time it was most definitely not my well-meaning undead sister. Her eyes were cold instead of sad, and her height far surpassed Bella's.

"Don't scream. All I want to do is talk." She smiled at me, but somehow it felt as though it was forced. "I owe you and your mate, and I'm praying that this doesn't backfire horrifically." She pointed a claw in my direction. "Nod if you understand."

I mechanically nodded. My whole body seemed rooted in place, so it wasn't really like I could do anything. Why are vampires always fucking with me?

"Good. Now I'm going to touch you. No harm will be done to you so please do _not_ fight it." She closed the distance and placed a slender hand on my arm.

Images blasted off into my head at supersonic speed. It made me feel as though my head would explode, but it felt so oddly familiar that I was able to parse each tidbit of information and categorize it at my own pace.

_Vampires in black cloaks. Jasper and his family on their knees surrounded by them. Death. Fire. Bella and I held by so many cloaked figures, forced to watch it all. Blood ran down my arms from their claws gripping too hard._

_"Jasper!" I was sobbing hysterically. The noise around me blending into meaningless white. I could do nothing to stop the fangs penetrating my skin. Liquid hot pain flared on my neck, and suddenly the vampires in cloaks released me, forcing me to stare at the fire where my mate was burning. "No!" I screeched._

_It was too late. I fell to my knees and felt Bella snarling and being forced to kneel beside me. Across from us, through the merciless smoke, three vampires stood. They looked different, as though their skin were made of paper._

_The one that had long black hair bared his teeth at me in a semblance of a smile. "Isabella, Mary, I've heard so much about you two." His voice was full of so many inflictions and careless innuendos that I shoved my bloody hand in my mouth to fight back vocalizing my rage. Jasper, my brave, brave Jasper, had made me promise not to fight back. The Volturi wouldn't hurt_ **_me_ ** _; they'd hurt Bella. "Will you join our Guard to uphold the order of the natural world?"_

_Venom spread through my body, immobilizing me from even responding to the asshole's question._

_Bella seemed to muster up enough strength to shake off her captors. "Fuck you!" She spat venomously. She took off across the field with great speed, and I watched in horror when a ginormous man with slicked back black hair tackled her to the ground effortlessly. Vamps swarmed around her and the unmistakable sound of cracking filled my ears. I could only manage a little whimper from the back of my throat at the sight of my sister's limbs being torn off her body._

_They all stepped away from her in practiced synchronization. "Masters, what will you have us do with them?"_

_The Old One who had spoken before giggled obnoxiously in the noxious air. "Pack them up. Talent like theirs is invaluable."_

_My eyes fell closed and the burning overwhelmed all else._

I opened my eyes to the flickering fluorescent lightbulb of the disgusting and the sardonic smile crossing the woman's lips. "What in the fuck," I gasped out, "was that?" Tears escaped the corners of my eyes and down my cheeks.

"The future. Your future." The terrible response sounded dull even to my own ears.

I blinked at her. "What was the point of showing it to me?"

"So you can change it and to pay my debt. Not that there aren't some side benefits in it for me; If the Volturi gain you in their Guard, then there is no hope left." A crazy look crossed her face. "While there is need for them, that much power will corrode any good. Their fear of humans will ease and blood will spill in the streets."

"Okay..." I struggled to gather my scattered thoughts. "Not having my mate die is really all the motivation I need, lady. How exactly do I change the future?"

"Get your memory back. Simple enough." She began to move towards the door.

I dared grab her wrist to stop her. "How do I do that? You're not exactly being super easy to understand here." The deep cold of her skin bore into me, but I refused to let go.

She shot me an amused smirk. "Pretty simple, Mary Alice. Get your heart to stop." She gently moved my hand off of her and left.

I stood in that nasty as hell bathroom for a long time after.


	27. The Volturi

"I'll be down in a few days. I'm going to wait for the Volturi visit and just hope that it's a friendly inquiry about Edward's availability to join the Guard. I'm sending Leah your way so that the shifters don't gain too much attention." Jasper's voice echoed on the wooden walls of the humble 'safe house'. The Swan sisters huddled on the dusty floor around the phone that was set to speaker phone. Mary leaned on Bella's shoulder, having managed to be sad enough over the past couple days that her vampiric sister didn't reject the physical contact.

"How did you cut the deal with Edward and Carlisle to go to the Guard and keep their mouths shut?" Bella asked, her voice hard yet curious about the fates of the men who'd been willing to sell them. She'd been getting progressively crankier since hightailing it out of town with Mary, and the thought of seeing Leah again drew a painful yearning in her chest that threatened to end her.

Being a vampire really sucked since it was fairly easy to feel so many shitty things all at once.

"After the others decided to let their miserable hides live," he responded with a fair amount of bitterness, "we made it abundantly clear that any future where Edward walks free from the Volturi is one where I actually do get to light the fire. Carlisle agreed to join him since Esme said, and I quote, 'I can't believe I married such a monster'."

"He deserves that. Wasn't it in his dumb doctor vows to do no harm?" She agreed readily.

Mary stiffened against her sister, but Bella chalked it up to hearing Jasper being so pissed off. Not that she could personally blame him since she also wanted the fuckers spit-roasting over a very hot flame.

"I gotta go; Rose, Em, and I are taking turns watching over those two until the Guard gets here. Hopefully, it won't be long." The phone clicked off without so much as a goodbye.

Bella ran her fingers through her sister's hair affectionately before standing. "Well, he sounds perfectly pissy about not having bonfire. Why don't we help Char and Peter unpack?"

Her tiny sister got up slowly, her eyes uncharacteristically grim.

"Hey." She stopped her with a gentle hand. "What's wrong?"

The troubled look on her face vanished as though Bella had imagined it. "I'm all right. It's just... I miss him is all."

She chuckled. "I guess not so much has changed then."

"Can he really make all of this okay? The Volturi aren't so easy to fool, are they?"

Chills went down her spine as she looked down at Mary. "How do you know that?"

"It's just a feeling." She shrugged off Bella's hand and stalked out of the beaten down house. It had been surprising to learn that Jasper had kept a property with Peter and Char without the Cullens' knowledge, but then again, paranoia had only served him well. The settlement was far off from prying eyes and was most vampires' nightmare with its constant sunshine and lack of prey, hence its heightened potential as a bug-out house. To add even more icing to the really fucked-up cake, she was almost certain that she'd overheard the couple mention an underground bunker hidden somewhere on the 200-acre strip of land.

But the hilarity of hillbilly immortals could hardly dent the sinking feeling in the bottom of Bella's stomach. _Has Mary regained her vision?_ The thought was unsettling. Something about her face... It'd been so hopeless that it reminded her of all those weeks where her sister had been hiding something from her. Right before her life had imploded and she'd been horrifically beaten and Changed into a vampire.

"Bells?" The door creaked opened, snapping her out of her dark revelry. Mary stepped in. Her face was even paler than normal. "Peter said that they're going out hunting for a bit and will sight out some cattle ranches for you to go to. Said they're pretty sure that's what Jazz does when they're all out here. I'm gonna make some food now." She robotically moved toward the kitchenette and began to sort through a large amount of grocery bags on the counter.

The task looked mundane enough that Bella decided to flop onto her back and stare at the ceiling. Counting the number of cracks in the ceiling and listening to the creaking of the house against the random buffs of wind; somehow it helped take her mind off of how much she missed Leah, her concern for Mary, and the forbidden worry for their father that she had buried so far deep that it would likely never again see the light of day. Everything was looking so grim that it was difficult to imagine how anything would be okay.

Because Mary was right about the Volturi situation. Peter had told her enough about the Guard's powers and track record with covens for Bella to realize that much; how in the world could they fool a man who could know every thought in your damn head with a single touch? All he had to do was to touch a single Cullen to know about them. And Jasper was staying to take that heat and was somehow naively hoping they would be able to take care of themselves without him?

Reality was a dark rabbit hole to go down.

She bolted up when a scent wafted lazily through her nostrils. Her mask wasn't completely air-tight and merely served as a strong buffer between her and the outside world. It gave her just the edge needed to overcome the debilitating newborn urges that defined her new existence.

It wasn't intended to withstand the full naked force of human blood hitting the air.

She couldn't force herself to stop breathing, to stop the onslaught of pure hunger that ripped through the body that was no longer her own. There were no mortal forces on Earth that could've stopped the newborn Monster from breaking loose into a jarring sprint across the small expanse of flooring between her and her prey. Her clawed hands shot out and gripped reed-thin shoulder blades- she heard those crack with the pure force she exerted onto them - and brought that tiny neck pulsing with life to her mouth.

The moment that her fangs chomped into the delicate skin of her beloved sister's neck, she knew that she had killed Mary Alice Swan.

Liquid, hot and alive, seeped into her mouth and she exchanged every drop down her throat with the potent venom that every vampire possessed. Her sister's body managed to jerk in surprise once before it completely immobilized her struggle. Never before had she felt so alive as the Monster in her withdrew and for one damn moment she felt saved from damnation and an eternity of misery. If she could somehow drink like this forever, then she'd be in Heaven.

"Bells." Time seemed to stop as somehow her sister fought off the poison and blood to muster that one word.

Cold water doused her and the Monster promptly retreated back into the very recesses of her soul. She fought her body with every ounce of will in her and dropped her sister's abused and frail body onto the floor with a cold thud. Horror bloomed inside of her, banishing all of the shit that had led to the disaster.

"Mary Alice...!" The shriek left her throat as she fell on the ground over her, peering down. Warm liquid trailed down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to investigate as a fierce feeling took over her.

 _She can't leave me._ The thought invaded her every pore. How could she make it better? Mary had probably lost too much blood, she knew that not all conversions were feasible if too much blood had spilled.

Her sister's green eyes, oddly accepting looked back up at her. How could she feel this way? Even as she frantically looked around the room for something to stop the bleeding, the scent almost overwhelmed her. It didn't help that the blood was still on her face. " _I can't fix you_!" She shook Mary when those green eyes began to close. Blood hit her upper lip. "Quit bleeding, please. You smell _so_ good." She bit her hand through the sob that wracked her chest and cracked the skin in a desperate attempt to stop from licking the liquid.

A tiny hand cupped her cheek. "Bella, find Jasper. It'll be okay, I can _see_ now... We need to run. Nothing works but running."

Mary's hand fell and then she didn't move another inch.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Jasper leaned against the cellar door, grateful that the damn mansion had a windowless room where they could take out the garbage. He knew that the odds of their plan working was a long shot, but there wasn't a universe where he could save them without confronting this.

The Volturi had taken out hundreds of newborn vampires and the skilled covens pulling their strings in the twilight of the Southern Vampire Wars. It had been an unprecedented display of strength, and one that only a vampire of Jasper's origin could fully appreciate. The only way to escape them was to either fly under the radar or to join, and they had the misfortune of being right in the Guard's crosshairs thanks to the ginger fuck that he'd had the bad taste to call brother. He was hoping against hope that they all got lucky and Aro's ability didn't tip him off to the girls, although it was practically inevitable that Edward's mind would be probed eventually.

It had taken considerable persuasion on his part to convince Esme to leave old Eddie in a bag.

His phone buzzed, and he glanced at it. The number indicated the burner phone that the girls were talking to him from. Just as he was about to answer, the heavy door of the upstairs hesitantly creaked open.

"Uh, Jasper?" Emmett's normally booming voice was abnormally subdued.

The soldier in Jasper immediately straightened. "What is it?"

"They're here."

He fought back a growl. "Understood. Help me escort the payload and make sure that Esme and Rosalie know to make no sudden moves." A single misstep could result in a rather deadly encounter.

The large vampire complied quickly to Jasper's orders, and soon the entire Cullen clan was assembled in a broken semicircle staring at the twin oak front entrance in morbid uniformity. Jasper held Edward in the sack, well aware that its scent would immediately tell all nearby vampires what was held within it. Emmett kept Carlisle in check with a single meaty hand on his shoulder.

Esme broke the semi-circle to stare at her mate with surprisingly hard eyes. "Our fates lie in your hands. Do not betray us again, you faithless man." She spat. Her grief hit Jasper in an intense avalanche.

Rose's full lips broke into a small smile even as the heavy knock of the door echoed throughout the mansion. Carlisle, subdued and as stiff as a board, strolled to open it. "Welcome." His civilized mask slipped onto his face with a practiced ease in an amazing show of control.

But, Jasper now recognized, the civilized doctor had always been a convenient cover for a man who put restraint and duty above all else. Unfortunately for them, that sense of duty had applied more to his firstborn 'son' than it had to the others.

"Carlisle." A large, dark haired vampire bowed deeply at their former leader. "Masters Caius, Aro, and Marcus await with eager impatience to see their old friend."

He inclined his head graciously. "I am flattered by such a visit by your Excellencies. Permission to bring my coven along?"

After an eager assent to the question, the Cullens followed the Volturi guardsman into the deceptively calm woods. Within minutes, they arrived to the familiar clearing where Jasper had beheaded the rogues who'd dared threaten the Swan sisters all those weeks ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed since.

Fanned against the other side of the clearing in an amazing show of power, a force of at least thirty darkly attired vampires greeted them. The Ancients stood stalk-still in the center with decisively bored expressions.

_Fuck._

It took one brush of his empathy to know that this wasn't a cordial visit or even one to just collect Edward and leave. Greed pulsed off of them in a continuous, steady rhythm that had not a single indication of hesitation in it. He prayed Peter upheld his end of the deal and gave the girls a fighting chance when he didn't show up to the safe house on the designated date. If not, Leah would at least do her damndest.

"Carlisle." Aro silkily said with a false smile through his white, sharp teeth. "How I do wish we could visit an old friend without having to be on business. You see, we found a large group of newborns not following the rules in a nearby city and were hoping to see if you had any information?"

Carlisle stepped forward and bowed deeply to the Ancients. "I'll gladly tell you what we know. A vampire named Maria-"

"Old Friend," he interpreted eagerly, "let us save time," he raised his paper-thin hand in an unmistakable invitation. Caius and Marcus could barely contain their bloodied smiles as Carlisle's face visibly fell.

And just like that, all of Jasper's foolish hopes for the future with his beautiful Mary came crashing down.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I'd only gotten that tiny vision in before the Change stole my ability to speak. My eyes closed on my beautiful sister's panicking face, and I didn't even have the time to apologize for sticking myself with the knife so that she would bite me. Perhaps it would've been smarter to simply ask Charlotte or Peter to Change me, but it had been fairly clear that they listened and feared Jasper first and foremost.

Payback for my deception was fairly fucking swift.

My memories came back with a vengeance as my soul burned from the fire in my chest. The hot Arizona sun, my many grueling gymnastic lessons as a child, Bella's tendency to trip on every single obstacle, and my dad's obsession with fishing all roared back simultaneously in my head, nearly hurting me as much as the flames engulfing my body. Now I understood why Bell had acted like such a baby about losing her humanity.

It hurt pretty bad.

The last of my memories stopped in a rush of relief at the end of the first day of my Change. I could feel Bella's hand on mine and it was a huge relief to have that one tidbit of hope in my palm. Particularly since the burning was increasing its hold on me.

But, quite unfortunately, since the past was finally done with me, the future decided to get its two cents in as well.

Absently, I realized that I was probably really distressing Bella since I was writhing and screaming like a pussy, but it hurt like a bitch. Streams and stock-still pictures of a grim future marked in fire greeted me, and it was about identical to what the broad in the bathroom had shown me; Me and Bella rushing in. The Cullens being burned alive. Us getting taken forcefully by the Guard, only this time I wasn't so human that I got fanged by a bunch of strangers.

Despair hit me, but I struggled with everything in me to see past the concrete wall that the vision presented. No future was immutable, and the Volturi sure as hell didn't have someone with my Gifts. It had to tip the scale in our favor somehow.

Pushing myself past what felt possible, I finally struck the weakest, blurriest possibility alive of what I'd seen before. What if we didn't rush to Forks?

Jasper's strikingly handsome stared at me dispassionately through bars. He was a ridiculously qualified asset to the Guard, and they had shoved him behind bars so that he wouldn't be able to interfere as they checked out the location of the safe house that they'd forced out of his head. They were coming for us with a tracker who had the reddest eyes I'd ever seen. We didn't have a prayer against him finding us.

In all likelihood, Leah Clearwater would be brutally murdered and Bella and I would become puppets of the Ancients.

The third day came and with it my heart stopped. Bella still hadn't left my side and it was with not a small amount of impatience that I fought to force my eyes open.

"Mary!" Bella's wide gaze met my own. It was fairly obvious that the last few days had been rough on her.

A silent Leah had her arms wrapped around Bella as if she'd been attempting to hold my sister together by pure force.

There was no time left. The tracker would be here any moment. With determination, I forced myself to sit up and get used to the bewildering and utterly overwhelming changes to my senses. I'd been out of commission and so helpless for so long that it was difficult to not be a little disgusted with myself.

My name is Mary Alice Swan. It was about fucking time that I saved the day and got my man.


	28. Hypnotize

Luca slinked carefully across the desert land, grateful that overheating as a vampire was an impossibility. The small Texan town that he had passed would be slated for death by his Masters if they saw so much as a glimmer of his true skin, hence the black robes that were standard for one of the Guard. Admittedly, the two humans that he had drained and carefully arranged in a fiery car crash had been beyond help, but the Volturi tracker didn't savor the murder and mayhem that so many other older vampires did. No, he just enjoyed the hunt of it all.

The gift of tracking vampires was both a gift and a curse. When he had been free to roam and devoid of any bonds of loyalty, other vampires had been easy to avoid. Loneliness was hardly an issue when he had traveled the world and saw such beauty that it had made up for the human blood he had spilt in order to maintain his sanity. By his third century, Luca had stopped feeling guilt.

Perhaps that sin was why he had met Olivia in the first place. He had caught a silky scent on a breeze one day, and his curiosity about its source had overwhelmed all his good senses. She had ended up being the most beautiful vampire he'd ever seen, and he had dared tried to talk to her.

 _La sua discarica._ In his ignorance, the black robes that she had worn hadn't meant anything to him at the time. Olivia the Shadow had been impressed by his ability to follow her, and Luca had been trussed up and delivered to the Ancients' counsel within the span of a few days. He hadn't even gotten any kisses from it. And now he found himself avoiding land mines and booby traps in the godforsaken desert in order to condemn others to the same fate.

 _What lunatics._ These vampires could only be from the Southern Vampire Wars. He could remember tracking down the coven leaders responsible for that tragedy, and the Death Twins delivering final judgement. The newborns that they had slaughtered had been different from any that he had seen before, their eyes hard and ruthlessness ingrained to their pores. As those fires had burned high into the sky, Luca had sworn to avoid Texas with all the power that he had left.

At last, after nearly losing several limbs when the sand had shifted under his feet to reveal well-sharpened spikes, he spotted a lonely little cabin. The scents that had been given to him saturated the Earth well here, confirming that his targets were nearby.

Shuddering in relief, Luca reached for the homing beacon in his pocket. A simple button press and the combative talents of the Guard would sky dive over their targets in a matter of hours. His job was done.

"Whatcha doing?" A thin, trilling voice froze him in his tracks.

A tiny pipsqueak of a vampire smiled up at him. She was ridiculously small, the spikes of her inky black hair barely reaching his collarbone. How had he not seen her?

"Bit of a downdraft. Plus a lot of my dried blood is in that shack. Kind of a bummer if I think too hard about it." She sighed tragically. Her ruby eyes betrayed her newborn status.

One of his targets, although she was supposed to be a human. Whether she was in front of him or not, he still had a job to do. He pressed the button.

Or rather, tried to press the button. A sparkling white hand grabbed his wrist. And just like that, Luca found himself expertly pinned. "Are you sure you want to face the ire of the Volturi?" He calmly asked, curious by the predicament that he found himself in.

"Well you see, the little miss right here just told me that me and my mate are dust if we don't lend a hand, and I'm inclined to believe her." A masculine draw mused. "And as long as you don't see my face, I also believe that Mr. Aro really won't have a clue who I am, is that correct, Mary?"

"Yep." The small girl crouched in front of him and looked at him intently. "Do they have the Cullen clan imprisoned in your stronghold?"

He choked out a laugh. "Why would I tell you?" His Italian came out thick on the ground with his amusement. "My masters do not handle betrayals well and I very much like my head attached to my shoulders."

Her eyes closed briefly and then opened. "Ah, I see."

 _A seer._ It still amazed and terrified him that his masters had found a talent with the gift of foresight. Poor girl. At least he'd had the slightest chance to not be a slave until he had made a foolish error. "Being in the Guard, it's not so bad." He decided to try persuasion and give the poor girls a chance to reconsider. "Even the Witch Twins will leave you alone with the kind of privilege that they'll bestow upon you."

A sad smile crossed her face. "I just found myself again, it seems a tad cruel to let some old vampires decide what to do with my gift and life. And what my gift tells me is that I won't like even a shred of what they'll use it for. Framing covens, breaking families apart, covering human mass murders, it just really isn't my thing. Also, since they're holding my man against his will, I'm even more inclined to not cooperate." A shadow crossed her petite and lovely face. "I'm real sorry for this, by the way, but it'll only be temporary. Bella!"

A real beauty of a vampire entered his frame of vision, her face carefully closed off. Dark silky hair hung around her chin, obscuring her eyes that he was sure were the same crimson red as the other female. The scent informed him that this was in fact Isabella, the other sister. All the masters had told him was that she had a combat ability similar to Jane's.

Luca blanched as Isabella crouched beside her sister. "You're sure this'll work? I've never done this before."

Mary pursed her lips in consideration. "Uh... there's about a three fourths chance this will work correctly?"

"Real comforting." She rolled her eyes and placed a silken hand against Luca's forehead. "Don't move." She commanded arrogantly. "Or I'll fry your brains."

He froze. As absurdly improbable as that threat sounded, he'd seen insane talents throughout his existence.

"Peggy, can you lend us a hand? In exchange for your services, I swear to help you crossover if we can get to the Volturi's lair?"

Several moments of silence passed and Luca fought back a laugh. _Who in the world was she talking to?_

"Yes, I'll totally let you have a shot at Jasper if we get away scot-free. Seems fair enough to me." Bella let out a low chuckle that was threaded with dark humor.

And then Luca's body stopped functioning properly. It was as if someone had cut the strings from his conscientiousness and his limbs, trapping him in his own husk of a body. He couldn't even blink his eyes.

 _This is a bit tricky._ A feminine voice, thick as molasses with a Southern accent, echoed in his head. His hand twitched before it began to push against the sand. The male who had been holding Luca down released him and danced out of his line of vision.

 _Who are you?_ Luca was petrified at the loss of control of his body. How could the masters be so far off about Isabella's ability?

If he ever got out of this hold, he swore to himself that he'd defeat her and burn her body to ashes, orders or not. A power of this magnitude couldn't be permitted to be exploited or practiced. Even as he fought against the invader, he felt his sanity begin to slip in a tragic rockslide. It took all his concentration to maintain fluidity.

 _Name's Peggy. I've been wandering around here for awhile, but I've just been given an opportunity that I can't turn down. Soo... sorry mister._ Peggy did not sound apologetic at all as she began to invade Luca's memories, pinpointing exactly where the Volturi's stronghold in Venice was.

"I've got the location, miss." His voice rang out, betraying the institution that had held his loyalty for so long.

The sisters smiled at him and, out of the the corner of his eye, he could've almost sworn he saw a silver-furred creature prowl for the briefest of moments.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"This sucks, bro." Emmett slammed his massive body onto the stone floor. "I thought the Volturi were either executioners or recruiters, never even occurred to me that they'd have a jail system."

Jasper fought against the instinct to growl at his brother. "You rather that they had executed us?"

He shrugged as Rose shot him the dirtiest look. "Death would be preferable to just how bored I am right now. What makes all of this worse is that those assholes are strutting around upstairs like they own the place."

Esme was the one to actually growl at him. "Do not bring up that faithless, selfish, stuck-up man. It gives me hives to think about how much time that I've wasted on him."

The large vampire's expression softened. "Sorry, I know. Let's look at the bright side, at least they don't have the girls yet even after Aro had a blast going through all of our minds." A big grin split his face as he waggled his eyebrows at Rose. "I hope he enjoyed the show."

"Dear Lord." The blonde bombshell muttered. She then redirected her attention to Jasper. "You got any ideas about how to get us out of here?"

Just as he was about to respond, an evil snicker flickered about the cell. Two platinum blonde vampires strolled in, satisfaction evident from the swishing of their robes to the twist of their mouths. "You are truly foolish." Jane said smugly. "No one has ever successfully escaped from us, nor have our masters ever been denied something that they want. You," her eyes slid over Jasper, "interest them greatly. And the rest of you are alive on Carlisle's request."

As his sister spoke, Alec walked boldly up to where Rosalie and Esme huddled in the corner. "I say, you are quite the beauty. If you agree to-how do you Americans say it? Fucking. Yes, that's it. If you agree to fuck me, perhaps I can get you released early."

Rose cocked her face in obvious disgust as Esme gasped and Emmett slammed onto his feet and decked the other vampire with a tremendous crack in an uncharacteristic show of silent rage. Alex slammed into the concrete wall with a boom and slid to the floor.

He looked dazed as half of his face was cracked from the force. An off-kilter smile broke onto his otherwise bland face. "I must kill you for that, you ape." He held out his arms in an odd gesture.

Jasper felt the ill intent and felt his leash shatter into a thousand pieces. This was his family. He forgot about strategy, about the smart way to proceed to ensure everyone's survival; he merely wanted to inflict as much _pain_ as possible.

So that's what he did.

Before Alec's long-range gift could hit his big, dumb, loving brother, he had the man's arms pinned to the wall. "What a useless pair you are," he purred. "A long-range gift that telegraphs its directions with your arms and that has some serious lag, and" his leg shot out to catch Jane's face as she charged at him, "a little pipsqueak that has to touch others, but doesn't really know how to fight."

He ripped off Alec's arms and he shouted out in pain. "Well, Jane, darlin." He approached the small female with a peaceful smile. "Let's just see how interested those old asses are in me after I make you hurt a little."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anybody recognize what chapter Peggy is from?


	29. The After Party

"You better be damn sure this will work." Leah deadpanned as she crossed her toned arms across her lean body. We - us three girls and the body that Peggy had hyjacked - had just landed in Italy under night's cover and with the aid of expertly-forged passports that Charlotte had handed us. Apparently, Jasper also shared a fraudulent lawyer named Mr. Jenks with his friends, and had left enough money that Charlotte had been able to call express orders on all of the documents.

Thank God for paranoid rednecks.

"Yeah, she better be." My sister matched the she-wolf's pose as they both glared down at me. Bella was especially irritated with me as her eyes had settled to a slighter darker ruby due to my deception. And, in all fairness, tricking her into killing me had been a bit of a dick move.

I shrugged under their scrutiny. "Relaaax... I can totally pull this off!" I didn't want to mention that I had picked the possibility that exposed the most danger to me and guaranteed that both my sister and Leah would be able to get away.

As we scurried across the cold, industrial floors of the airport, our carry-ons clanging behind us, I couldn't help but feel grateful for their support. Bella, as loyal as ever, would've knocked my lights out for trying to exclude her, while Leah was destined to be apart of the family. And, if everything went according to plan, we'd be on the run for an eternity as an unstoppable unit.

Happiness entered my every pore at the future. Sure, it wasn't exactly the future I was seeing at the present, but it was a blurry possibility. We just couldn't get caught or we'd all be the Volturi's slaves for the next century until I could arrange Aro's murder and we performed a coup d'état for the throne. It was rather tempting; Jazz would look sooo hot and right as leader of the Guard.

Not a horrible future, but I just wasn't that patient and I'd rather kiss and hang out with my man _now_.

"Pipsqueak." Leah squeezed my shoulder to grab my attention from my scheming. "I'm sniffing a lot of vamps around here, we need to get out of the public eye quick."

She was right. Itchy eye contacts and heavy concealer was helping us blend in, but it was extremely difficult to slow my movements down to mirror anything remotely human. Not to mention that humans smelled insanely good right now.

It seemed as though my control was better than Bella's, and that Bella's appetite for human blood was significantly diminished since having chomped down on my neck. Maybe it was because it had scared her so bad.

"Alrighty. Which way next, Peggy?" I asked cheerfully to the extremely tall vampire escorting us.

A feminine Southern accent, masked within a deep timbre, responded. "In Volturra, there are a series of underground passages and rooms that amount to the Volturi's home throughout the entire city. Luca specifically recalls an entrance under a nightclub where we would be particularly inconspicuous. Apparently, the club entrances are where the majority of their...food comes from and so the guards are less wary against unfamiliar faces."

We ducked away into an alleyway absent of security lights while I digested this information. If we were to use a club entrance... Closing my eyes, images flowed over me at supersonic speed while my vampiric mind quickly interpreted them. "It should work as long as we use Peggy as the draw. How can we get the rest of us in though?" More details were needed to make the future crystal clear.

"Slap a hood on me and then we are dragging Leah and you in through the entrance as our food." Bella supplied helpfully. "Your physique is too abnormal to pass off as a generic member of the Guard, and Leah is actually human."

My mouth twisted at the use of the descriptor 'abnormal' for my body type, but managed to keep my trap shut while we all agreed to the plan and began to scramble around the town assembling appropriate night club attire to trick our way in. Out of total habit, I picked both my and Bella's clothing and nearly bit my tongue in half when I saw the getup that Leah had selected.

Criticism was hardly necessary when we were on a rather deadly timetable already.

"All right ladies, the best case scenario that I'm seeing is if we go real low and slow, we will be able to set Jazz free. Then we let him take over. In quite a few scenarios, I'm thrown around like a rag doll by a really aggressive dude for like an hour, so let's try to avoid that because it turns out that I'm shit at fighting. Remember _low and slow_." I preached to the others as we waited on the short-list line at the club. Turns out vampiric good looks made the whole experience a helluva lot more convenient.

"The holding cells are a mile from here to the North. If something happens to this body, I won't be able to do shit for you guys unless Miss Bella can find me a new body." Peggy reminded us for the hundredth time. She was obviously nervous about not being able to crossover if something went South.

"Stick close to me then." Bella muttered as a bouncer gave her a wink and a thumbs up, indicating that she could proceed.

Lights flashed and music thumped thick in the air. Bodies grinded and nearly made me drool venom once I realized the sheer magnitude of humans with their hearts pumping there were. Bella groaned beside me as we dispersed, working the crowd in case there were others watching us. My outfit and makeup did the best it could to make me look human, which meant I was wearing a silky, beady shawl that covered a lot of white skin and some blush to simulate blood in my cheeks.

The dancing couldn't help but be fun, and it reminded me of the dance where everything had gone so horribly wrong. It'd been a long time since I'd looked at Jazz without the gauze of amnesia between us, and I couldn't wait to crush him close and never let him go again.

Throat feeling suspiciously thick from thinking about him, I ran into Peggy inconspicuously and did my best to feign interest as I ran my hands down her masculine body. I could see it was just as awkward for her as it was for me, but we did a pretty convincing job of it. Next came the part of the plan where I had to make a few shots disappear since the Volturi vampires seemed to make sure their victims were thoroughly tanked before taking them down through the tunnels.

"This is disgusting..." I whined after the third shot with big eyes as Peggy ordered another one. It tasted like dust and mold.

"You're so close, you can do it." She encouraged dryly. "If I can look at these outfits from eighty years in the future while wearing a man's body without freaking out, you sure as hell can stomach a few shots."

Phrased like that, I felt a little bit like an ass for complaining. A tingling laugh came down a few seats down on the bar, and I spotted Leah tipping back a tequila with a sloppy grin as Bella watched on in apparent amazement. Either she was actually drunk or a significantly better actress than me. I slowly grabbed the next tiny glass placed in front of me by a bemused bartender and downed it.

I leaned against Peggy sloppily. "Mission is a go."

She half-lifted me, half-dragged me across the dance floor to the hallway that held the bathrooms. As giggling women filtered out in a tipsy group, she pressed me against the wall in a heady but inconspicuous embrace until the coast was clear. I could hear Bella and Leah giggling as they trailed us, their act much more convincing than ours.

Peggy released me to let me half fall down the wall as she lifted a cut of wood off of the hardwood floor to reveal the entrance. She then picked me up and jumped into the abyss.

I sucked in and out a single breath before we hit the ground. I felt Peggy readjust my shawl to cover my face in a drunken display of my stomach as the featherweight footsteps of another vampire approached.

"Luca! You're back fast." A female guard said in friendly greeting. Her accent was British.

"Yes, the query was not so hard to find this time around. I decided to celebrate." Peggy slipped into a seamless Italian accent as she held my body with one arm. Bella landed slightly behind us.

"Well, I'm glad you've returned." The guard dropped her voice several octaves to mask a giggle. "One of the Cullens handed both Jane and Alec their asses at the same time. I hope the Masters decide to keep him; he's very powerful." A faint amount of interest threaded her words.

I swallowed back a growl even as Peggy laughed out loud. "That is interesting, Lily. I look forward to meeting this Monster."

Lily kept in step with 'Luca' with only a few glances at Bella and Leah. With her slipping on Luca's old robe as soon as she'd entered the tunnel, my sister looked pretty casual and bored.

We were in.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jasper took the next punch to his gut with a bare wince, swinging from the momentum of the chains that the Guard had hung him from. He'd managed to take out three more of fuckers before Rosalie's pleading for him to stop had really registered. Luckily for him, Marcus had been so amused at his antics that he'd convinced Aro and Caius, who'd both been beyond furious at the situation, into agreeing to provide extra security until they could set up an appointment with Chelsea for him.

It was the mention of that name that had really stopped him in his tracks.

She'll take Mary away from him. Chelsea was renowned for manipulating emotional bonds to ensure the Guards' fidelity, and he'd never heard of a case where she had failed. It erased all preexisting bonds beforehand. If he made it to that appointment, he'd be no better than the thoughtless puppet that Maria had made him all those decades ago.

He'd rather be executed than to be used in such a way again.

"How. Do. You. Like. That." Felix grunted as he delivered a blow with each word into Jasper's abdomen. Apparently the big brute had a thing for the evil little bitch who Jasper had taught a lesson.

He bared his teeth and went with it. He'd had much worse before in the beginning while in Maria's forces, when he'd tried to resist her orders initially. He'd been young, much more susceptible to reprogramming than he was now. One would think that immortality meant a lack of feeling, but that was a gross misinterpretation of the situation. Heightened senses amounted to a heightened sensitivity to pain and suffering.

"Felix!" A tall vampire entered the lone cell, his eyes dark with hunger.

The blows ceased. "Luca." Felix sounded pleasantly surprised, as though he hadn't just been caught ruthlessly torturing a prisoner. "You've tracked down the sisters already?" A dark, angry eagerness within his tone set Jasper's teeth on edge.

The man shrugged. "Wasn't so difficult, although," he shuddered visibly, "I hate Texas. Texan vampires are insane." He glanced at Jasper and a feral look went into his eyes. "Who is this?"

It felt like a rhetorical question to Jasper. Something about this vampire felt so familiar, and he couldn't quite pinpoint where he'd seen him before.

"Some fucking asshole that needs to be on fire right about now."

A small white and black streak knocked Felix away from his chain. Sounds of a squeamish followed before a loud crack splintered the room as a wall exploded.

"Ow!" The musical, trilling exclamation sent his undead heart into hyperdrive.

 _No, it can't be._ The rubble shifted to reveal a petite, gorgeous face and dusty black hair. Eyes that were once emerald looked into his own.

"What the fuck, Mary!" He couldn't help letting out the curse even as Felix began approaching her with a murderous expression on his dumb face.

She stood up slow and with absolutely no discipline. "Wow he's gonna hit me hard."

Damn it all to hell, but her visions were distracting her from the actual fight. He struggled uselessly, trying to get free from the impossible situation. The giant vampire reared up his fist.

And then Luca _moved_. A twisting motion that rang so familiar to Jasper that he blinked to double check what he was seeing. It wasn't a takedown maneuver integral to the Guard; it was far too simple in its application, but effective.

The very same move that he'd taught to hundreds of newborns.

Felix was pinned. At least momentarily. "Mary, untie him now." A familiar Southern accent came out of the mysterious man's mouth.

Mary flitted across the room in an instant, climbing nimbly up the chain and deftly unhooking him. A light kiss ghosted his collarbone before he hit his feet. And then he swept into the fight, synchronizing quickly with the odd stranger helping them out.

Felix was a different beast from the Witch Twins. With tremendous strength and centuries of hand-to-hand combat under his belt, he was effectively the equivalent to Maria's strength or better. Even with the two of them combined, he found himself covering far too much area as the experienced Guard member focused his attacks on Luca, whose attacks were far less advanced than they should've been.

"Stand back." Jasper barked out the order instinctually and Luca obeyed immediately.

Maybe five minutes later, he finally saw his chance. Ducking and weaving into a weak opening between his legs, he tore out the knee cap and swung behind his opponent. "Help me out." He grunted as he used all the dirty tricks up his sleeve to contain the other vampire. Emmett would've been real useful to have around at the moment.

Eventually, with a lot of awkward shifting and heaving, Felix hung from the very spot that Jasper had hung at. He grinned up at him. "How you doing, big fella?"

An impressive roar reverberated around the cell. Jasper let out a low whistle of satisfaction while dusting off his hands off his jeans. "Good thing y'all soundproof these sons of bitches." He briefly considered getting some revenge on Felix, but quickly dismissed the idea.

His lady was here, and they needed to get the hell out of Dodge.

"Jazz?" He whipped around to see Mary, dirt smudged on her cheek and holding a silly looking shawl around her like a blanket. It was the first good look he'd had at her, and the only true moment where it really hit him that she wasn't human anymore.

And she had infiltrated a compound that vampires twenty times her age wouldn't dare to. For him.

"Look," she began tentatively, "I know it was probably a ridiculously dumb idea, but I couldn't-"

He grabbed her and crushed her to him, finally no longer having to worry about hurting her, and stopped her apology mid-sentence. The familiar weight calmed him and for a second he just breathed her in.

"You bet this was a terrible idea," he murmured into her hair, "but I love you too much to care." He kissed her gently on the crown of her head and set her down. "We have got to get out of here." He switched to a different frame of mind, one where he was the commander and the people in front of him were his men.

"Leah and Bella are sniffing out the others. With Leah's tracking, it shouldn't take too long and I _saw_ that they'd be able to avoid people." Mary offered hesitantly.

He nodded and expressed a few ground rules of engagement before they left the cell: he'd lead the way, Mary would stay in the middle, and absolutely, _no matter what_ , they would remain silent as they went through the tunnels. Mary had sighed and rolled her eyes at that last one.

Flicking her nose playfully, he kept a good pace through the tunnels as he navigated to where Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett were being held. And if life wasn't a bitch enough, a ginger surprise awaited him.

"Well, if this isn't truly a shame," Edward kicked off the wall of his post with a cruel smile. "I do get to kill you, Jasper." His eyes were wild and red as sin, while his black robes covered his lean body frame in a ridiculous giveaway to his allegiances.

His gut rolled at the sight. "So all those years of making fun of my restraint and _this_ is what you do the first time someone puts some pressure on you, Eddie?" He stepped out of the shadows of the tunnel despite Mary's tiny hand trying to stop him.

Hiding wasn't going to get them out of here. It would be fastest if he took out old Eddie boy himself, and then he could grab the others.

Edward didn't hesitate; The damn mindreader was right on him.

Avoiding a claw to the eyes, Jasper sidestepped him and did his best to keep up. Edward's face was twisted in angry lines, and the rage actually succeeded in making him sharper. He was more focused than usual.

"Human life makes us stronger. The Guard needs me strong!" Even his vocabulary seemed degraded from what was normal.

So Chelsea had done her work on him and suddenly his own life wasn't the most important thing to him anymore. He bit back a grin as he dodged a punch. "Well, Lord Aro also needs his cock sucked, so I'm guessing you've found your life calling, Eddie."

Liquid pain exploded as suddenly Jasper's arm became detached.

Edward held it with a demented smile. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?" His eyes slid uncannily behind him. "You underestimated us this time."

Fear exploded within him and he had no choice, but to look behind him. That one decision took everything as Edward quickly removed his other arm and got him to his knees. Pussy he may be, but the ginger had always been able to fight.

Not that it fucking mattered. Everything stopped once he realized that Carlisle, civilized and always so pristine, was covered in blood and held Mary in his grasp. Her head angled just right for a removal.

"Well sons," he licked his reddened lips with a relish, "You interrupted my mealtime."


	30. The Shadow and the Seer

Mary managed to look apologetic in the doctor's arms, as if it were _her_ fault that his former coven leader was a total psycho.

"Good going, Carlisle." Edward was extremely proud of himself and was having a grand time crushing Jasper onto the ground with his elbow.

"Carlisle," he pleaded from his completely uncomfortable position, "please don't hurt her... she's innocent."

The older vampire looked practically unrecognizable with his blonde hair and pale skin riddled with human blood. An unstable smile stained his handsome face. "Oh I know she is, son. So innocent that this whole family had to go down for her so that you, you ungrateful _bastard_ , could keep your conscience clean. _After all that we've done for **you**_!" Mary whimpered as he applied more pressure to her neck and it began to crack.

Jasper's struggle became more feral as those sounds reached him.

And then the weight off his back lifted at the same time that a growl ripped through the tunnel. As he watched, large canine teeth closed around Carlisle's throat and his 'father''s head once again fell to the ground. Threat vanquished on that side, Jasper twisted around to see a short dark shadow had Edward on his knees, his eyes wide with shock.

"What-" Edward whispered as a white hand gripped his shoulder with frightening intensity.

"Good thing you can't read my mind." Bella's smile was grim as he collapsed to the ground and began to writhe at her feet. "Now _she_ has a place to stay until I can put her to rest."

Jasper got to his feet slowly, his eyes on his brother. Then he looked at the girl he considered his sister. "Real lucky you got here in time."

Bella's eyes wandered to her actual sibling. "Yeah, real _lucky_." She sounded half-sarcastic and half-enraged.

He looked at his girl and she waggled her eyebrows at him playfully. _So it had all been planned to a perfect T._

She ran into his arms and grinned up at him. "We've got two minutes to vacate this area. Might not be able to fight yet, but I sure as hell can help out with the small things."

"Well darlin', let's get the others and hightail it out." He swung her once in a tiny celebration before shoving open the door of the detainment cell. His family, all varying degrees of rugged, looked up at him. Rosalie was flatout mean-mugging it. "Your bail's been sprung." He tipped an imaginary hat their way, still so happy not to be in chains under Felix's tender mercies with no hope for the future.

"Bout fucking time." Rose snarked, sashaying out of the cell as though she hadn't been detained in a cell for days. A grinning Emmett strode out behind her.

That left Esme. Dark shadows crept under her eyes and made the lovely features stretch into a sadder rendition of the woman that he'd grown to love and respect as much as he had his own mother. She got stiffly up before running into his arms, startling him.

"Thank God you're safe." Low sobs ran from her body into his much larger one. She clutched at the back of his shirt in an unusually desperate grip. "When they took you... I thought another one of my family members was gone."

He rubbed her back soothingly. "I'm here." He reassured, not doing the best of jobs to hide his surprise. "We need to get out of here _now_ if we want to keep it that way though."

Edward still sat on the stone floor outside of the cell, flexing his hands. "I think I've got the hang of this body now." He told a hovering Bella. A familiar Southern accent hung on to his normally stiff cadence.

"Luca?" Jasper asked incredulously, even as he simultaneously arranged his family members in a suitable formation to escape the Volturi's territory.

Red eyes gazed at him with an inscrutable expression while Bella promised to explain at a later time.

They set off into the dark tunnels, Emmett and Jasper instantly taking the front and rear positions of the line. Leah prowled in a protective circle around them. He knew that at the slightest threat, the she-wolf would be able to at least growl out a warning.

Mary ran at his elbow. She occasionally whispered directions to him. If she showed any discomfort in being a newborn with the scent of death and blood surrounding them, she never showed it.

She was already better than him.

As they moved through the tunnels, they passed the decapitated Carlisle and Luca, who Carlisle had apparently attacked in order to take Mary hostage.

Once they broke out of the back tunnel that pulsed into a seedy nightclub after taking out a few guards, Jasper let out a sigh of relief.

Now they just needed to get out of Italy and never stop running.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

It turns out that escaping Italy is pretty simple since everything is, geographically speaking, _attached_.

A two day's trek brought us to the Switzerland border, and it turned out that Esme was a walking encyclopedia about all of the strange sights we ran into as we transversed the strange continent.

"And right here, girls, is why keeping Switzerland bank accounts just makes _sense_." Esme lectured as she gave us an overly detailed account of how she was swindling the US government.

"But if we don't eat, why do we need so much money?" Bella asked, her hand on Leah's fur as they strolled behind.

Jazz had asked that we slow down as he thought over our next move. Losing the world's best vampire trackers was a tricky puzzle, but I had been able to pinpoint the best paths so far.

Esme groaned in exasperation as Emmett and Rose expertly hid their grins over Bella's natural aversion to everything that their mother took meticulous care to master. "Have you even been _listening_ , dear? I think I need to start over..."

It was now Bella's turn to look properly put out, while I couldn't help but smile. With Esme's strong desire to stay financially _comfortable_ , I would always be able to go shopping as much as my heart desired.

"Mary."

I snapped out of my fantasy of egregious purchases and craned my neck up to look at my ridiculously handsome boyfriend. "Yes?"

"Is it safe to stop for a bit? I need to stop in the next town and get a burner phone to make a few discrete calls." He absently cradled my face and ran his thumb over my lip.

My brain nearly exploded at the contact and I struggled to concentrate. "Uh... yeah you should be good. Maybe I could go with you?" _I can totally ambush him and kiss the smithereens out of him._

His eyes twinkled at me as if he could read my thoughts. "Yeah sure."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Leah melted into Bella's side as they watched Mary and Jasper walk down the hill that they were hiding out on. Rose, Emmett, and Esme were all hunting for whatever they could find and had promised to bring back blood for Mary and Bella since they were worried about their proximity to a small town. Apparently newborns were notoriously uncontrollable while hunting, and any incidents would ensure that the Volturi dogs would be hot on their trail.

Not that Bella was complaining, since she at last understood that the woman at her side was the reason why she had felt so unbalanced lately.

"You're _really_ okay with being on the run for all of eternity with me?" She asked while absentmindedly fiddling with Leah's silky hair, fascinated with the way it reflected the moonlight back at her.

Her mate snorted at her and crossed her gorgeously long legs in such a way that it nearly distracted Bella from the conversation. "Yeah, it'd be great if that wasn't the case, but I'll take what I can get."

Bella's undead heart soared. It was great to _finally_ be alone with her.

Someone cleared their throat. Well, it was great to be _almost_ alone with Leah. Peggy stood over them, cocking Edward's nonexistent hip in a decisively sassy manner. "Not that it isn't great that y'all are huddling up on each other, but can someone help me crossover already?"

If Bella was still human, she would've been blushing out of embarrassment. She scrambled to her feet, a gesture that was really uncoordinated for a vampire. "I'm so sorry, Peggy. Of course I'll help you out! But..." she hesitated as she reached out to her, "didn't you want to kick Jasper in the balls before you left for killing you?"

Leah gasped beside her. "What a _dick_ thing to do."

Peggy tossed her head back and laughed, twisting Edward's normally stuffy facial expressions into a lighter, more joyous version of the normally pouty vampire. "The Major actually made it out of that hellhole, Bella. Yeah, I've been pissed at him for a long time, but seeing him so happy makes it seem... wrong to ruin it. I shouldn't take my revenge out on _him_. Oppression controlled us like puppets and made us fodder for _someone else's_ bigger picture. His life was stolen by that bitch too, and if I can help him get it back, then I will." A determined, serious expression crossed her face suddenly. "Please don't tell him about my involvement. Just tell him that I was some random ghost that you had made a deal with. He doesn't need to feel any guiltier than he already does."

Bella nodded slowly. "I promise to make it so. It's been a real pleasure getting to know you, Peggy. I hope whatever waits for you on the other side is full of as much life and happiness as you are."

Peggy held her hand out to the Shadow. "I'm ready, miss. Help as many people like me as you can, it's a real gift to give life back to the dead."

Isabella Swan brought the offered hand to her forehead and closed her red eyes in concentration. And thought of all of the sensations that had accompanied her when her heart had stopped and that pull had called her. Bella then pushed that blissful urge onto Peggy and watched as a beautiful wisp of a girl exited Edward's body and went upwards in a dramatic expulsion. She broke apart into a million pieces of light.

"Wow." Leah sighed in an unusually soft voice. "I think I saw a lot of light for a second."

Her mate smiled. "Yeah?" She twined her fingers with the she-wolf and waved goodbye.

The moment was broken as Leah jerked as a sudden thought occurred. "Bella?"

"Yes?" She asked in innocent confusion.

"What should we do about the ginger?"

The she-wolf and her imprint stared at Edward Cullen's unconscious body with neutral expressions stamped on their faces.

"Uh... " Bella hesitated and tapped her chin in distracted consideration for a few seconds, "let's get a fire going real quick. I'm like _really_ sure that hosting a ghost for that long makes you pretty crazy anyway."

••••••••••••••••••••••••

**A hundred years later...**

"The Volturi are _what_?!" I dropped my sample fabrics in shock on the stylish oak floors.

My handsome mate gave me a slow smile. "You didn't know this would happen, my lovely seer?" He teased me while tipping my body back to sear my lips in a burning kiss.

I eventually came back up for unnecessary air, my face feeling hot from embarrassment despite my inability to blush. "I'm not _clairvoyant_ , Jazz. How in the world did the Volturi disband? Aren't they like a gajillion years old and all-powerful? Isn't that why we have been moving like _every six fucking months_?"

He laughed at me outright, his honey eyes flashing in amusement. Honey eyes that hadn't held a twinge of amber in all of the time I'd known him; he hadn't broken his diet in so long that the others teasingly called me his Lucky Charm. "Apparently, a blast from our past was a helluva lot more ambitious than I ever thought was possible. _She_ was the one who orchestrated every major player's demise, and stole the very valuable Chelsea's loyalty. Which was essentially a check-mate in every way that counted."

My mouth popped open as I mulled over his words. "Who is she?" My mind cranked to produce a million possibilities, all of which seemed highly improbable.

He ruffled my hair. "Her name is Gabi. Another seer that I saved from Maria, although from this news I wonder just how much _I_ really saved _her_?" He shrugged carelessly even as he swept me off my feet and strode across our beautiful little house off of a private island I'd managed to swindle for us.

 _Another seer?_ A distant memory pinged and suddenly a human memory, a very fuzzy one, entered my head. "I think..." I said rather slowly as Jasper kicked open the double doors to our bedroom, "that this Gabi person is the reason why I'm a vampire."

"Oh really," he growled against my mouth after he threw me onto the bed, "then maybe we should send her a thank-you card."

As he pressed his lips against mine, I couldn't help but laugh in agreement. After all, we were finally free and we had our happily forever after.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, feel free to let me know if anybody has any story requests/comments
> 
> If you liked this, check out my wattpad page for my original stuff ;)


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